


To Save the Queen

by awayohumanchild



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Behind the Scenes, F/M, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Humor, behind the scenes Phantom Menace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 09:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awayohumanchild/pseuds/awayohumanchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sabé Reccen is an ordinary girl from Naboo whose dream has just come true: she has been chosen as one of Queen Amidala's handmaidens. However, she quickly discovers that being a handmaiden is a lot harder than she thought it would be, with headstrong Queens, suspicious Jedi, and an invasion to deal with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Warning! This story will be very slightly AU. However, the only details that have been changed are very tiny and, as long as you skip this prologue, you can probably overlook it, which is why AU isn't tagged. Also, I read somewhere that there are actually 13 handmaidens, so there will be thirteen handmaidens although I will only really focus on the main five. This all being said, if I haven't scared you off, I hope you enjoy it and please review!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prologue mentions possible changes to Cordé's situation in AotC--just commenting on it so that you know that I know that Cordé and Sabé are not the same people. :)

I was ten years old when I first saw her.

I was sitting in the attic of the orphanage, watching the hustle and bustle of the royal palace. It had been a long day and I was hiding from the Matron who was sure to scold me and put me in a time out if she found me. I had retreated to the attic window in an attempt to avoid that stupid corner for as long as possible. 

I leaned against the window and watched the palace longingly. People in bright clothes kept scurrying in and out, carrying flowers and strangely shaped packages. A number of guards stood at the main entrance, surveying everything with a watchful eye. Everyone at the palace looked important and busy. Everyone looked like they belonged.

A lump grew in my throat. I ignored it as best I could and kept staring out the window. My eyes burned and everything blurred. I blinked rapidly and kept staring at the palace. Slowly, my eyelids grew heavier and heavier before drifting shut.

I dreamed. 

And that was when I saw her.

She was tiny and dark-haired like me. She, too, was trying not to cry.

“Hello,” she whispered when she saw me. “Who are you?”

“I’m Sabé. Who are you?”

“I’m—” confusion crossed her face before being replaced by pure terror. “I don’t know who I am. I don’t—” she stared at me, blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay. “All I know is that I’m important. And so are you. But I can’t remember anything else except for fire and explosions and people screaming and I—” she faltered. 

For a moment we just stared at one another.

Then she whispered, “I think I’m dead.”

“That’s—” I paused awkwardly. I knew I should say something. You didn’t hear someone tell you that they were dead and then not say anything. But how was I supposed to comfort a dead girl who hadn’t gone to the Peaceful Lands yet? 

“It hurt. I remember it hurting so much. And everyone was scared and I was scared but I was trying to get everyone out, everyone away, everyone safe but people were screaming and there were loud noises and there was fire. So, so, so much fire. I think I burned up. I think we got trapped, and I think I burned up!” She was horrified and tears were spilling down her cheeks.

Now I really had to say something.

“Well, you’re here now,” I offered feebly. “That’s something, right? There aren’t any loud explosions here and no one’s screaming and it’s just me and you and—” I looked around for the first time, “A lot of whiteness and nothing.” 

Because, as far as my eyes could see, everything was white and empty. It was like we were sitting in the middle of a canvas that hadn’t been painted on yet.

“I—I guess.” She nodded slowly as if to convince herself it was true. Her tears slowed. “Yes, that’s—that’s something. And I remember that I’m important and you’re important and that this was supposed to happen and—well, that’s something too.” 

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.

“I don’t know. But I think…” she studied me thoughtfully. “I think we’re similar, you and me, and I think that means something. But I don’t know…”

“Sabé!” 

The white world shook and we exchanged alarmed looks.

“I think you have to go,” she suggested.

“Sabé, wake up!”

The world shook again and she seemed to be fading away.

“Will I see you again?” I asked. I didn’t want to leave her behind. I didn’t want her to be alone in the whiteness.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I hope so.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

“Sabé!” 

And, then, I opened my eyes to see the Matron scowling at me.

“Stars, girl! Are you deaf? I’ve been trying to wake you up for five minutes!” she scolded.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I struggled to find a reply.

“Well, never mind! Someone is here to see you and is saying something about you applying to some organization? I don’t know.” The Matron shrugged dismissively. “But it seems as though the organization is interested in interviewing you for something. Just come downstairs and talk to her yourself. And then,” her eyes narrowed, “we’re going to have a talk about what happened earlier.” 

With that, the Matron bustled off.

Reluctantly, I tore myself away from the attic window and followed her downstairs.

oOo

The second time I saw her was when I was twelve. 

It had been after a full day of training with the other girls who had been interviewed and invited to join the Academy. The Academy was where girls from all over Naboo came to learn how to protect people. Most of us were hoping to one day work as handmaidens to important political figures. Perhaps even to a Queen, should a Queen be elected. 

I was exhausted after spending all day running up and down stairs, doing push-ups, doing sit-ups, completing obstacle courses and sitting through lectures about security protocols, weapons safety, history, math, literature, politics, popular culture... Madame Winn was a brutal task master and at the end of every day everything ached, including my brain. As was usual, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

And then I saw her again.

We were still sitting in sea of white and she was still tiny and dark haired like me. This time, though, she was looking surer of herself.

She smiled when she saw me. “Hi, Sabé.”

“Hi,” I cautiously replied.

“Do you remember me? We talked a couple of years ago, right before Madame Winn interviewed you and invited you into the Academy,” she prompted me.

I nodded slowly. “I remember.”

I’d had nightmares about fire and explosions and people screaming and dying and being lost in maze of white for weeks afterward. I wasn’t about to forget the girl who had brought them on any time soon.

“Well, I remembered why I’m here,” she said brightly.

I smiled. “Well, that must be a relief, to finally remember something.”

“It is. It really, really is,” she agreed with a wide smile. “Do you want to hear it? Because it has to do with you, too.”

“Sure,” I agreed, not only because I was curious but because it was obvious that she was dying to tell me about it.

“Well, I am dead.” Her smile lost some of its brightness, but she rallied quickly. “But I’m not supposed to be. See, Naboo was never supposed to be attacked and bombed and nearly destroyed. And the Galaxy’s not meant to be at war with itself. That’s a mistake. An imbalance, I think they called it.” She shrugged. “I’m not really sure, exactly. The details are still a little fuzzy.”

“What do you mean?” I asked slowly. “Naboo’s not at war and neither is the Galaxy.” 

“No, not yet,” she agreed. “See, you’re from the past. Or,” she frowned, “I’m from the future. Or something like that. I don’t know. But I’m here to help make sure that your present doesn’t happen like my past did so that my present and your future, which is a really awful place, never happens. Do you get it?”

“Sort of,” I answered. “You’re here to change the past while it’s still the present so you can save the Galaxy and prevent the imbalance of—well, whatever it is that’s imbalanced—in order to save the future. But what do I have to do with it?”

“Well, you’re Sabé Reccen, right?” she asked.

“Yes…”

“You die,” she said.

I felt like someone had just bashed me over the head with something heavy.

“What?” 

“Well, not yet,” she continued, waving her hand impatiently. “Not until you’re eighteen. You die so that the Queen doesn’t have to which is a very noble way to go, I will give you that. But, you’re not actually supposed to die then. You’re not supposed to die when you’re twenty-five trying to protect the Queen either, which is what would happen if you don’t die at eighteen. So, that’s where I come in.” 

I gaped at her. I died when I was eighteen years old? Only six years from now? I only had six years to live?

“I’m here to make sure you live,” she announced brightly.

“You’re—what?” I stared at her in disbelief.

“If you live, things will be different. Trust me.” 

Did I have a choice?

“So,” she continued breezily, “When you’re eighteen, there’s going to come a time when Captain Panaka—you’ll probably meet him sometime soon—is going to have some worries about an assassination attempt on the Queen by some extremist activists. When you leave the palace to address the protestors outside the palace, drop your purse when you reach the third stair and bend down to pick it up, okay? You got that?”

“I—” My head spun. “I—yes. Yes, I’ve got it. Extremist Activists, Addressing Protestors, drop purse on the third stair and bend to pick it up. Got it. Wait,” I shook my head, “What Queen?”

“Great!” the other girl said brightly, “Now, when you’re twenty-five, Captain Typho—you won’t meet him for a while yet, I don’t think— is going to be worried so you’re going to be on a ship while the Queen flies to vote down some Military Creation Treatise or something. When you land—and this is going to be embarrassing, but you have to do it—walk very, very quickly down the ramp and, when you’re halfway down, pretend to trip and then fall off the ramp. If you can, roll underneath it.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.” I didn’t think I’d ever been so confused in my life.

“Alright. Repeat both of those for me. Okay?” She demanded.

Feeling overwhelmed, I did as she said. And then I repeated it again. And again. And again. And again.

“Okay. I think you’ll survive,” she finally said, looking satisfied. “Now,” here, she bit her lip and slanted a look at me.

“What?” 

“I’ve—well, I know some things. About your time. And, I’m not—you’re not allowed to remember any of it. Because it could—I don’t know, but it’s not allowed. Imbalance and all that.” She shrugged.

“Who told you all of this anyway?” I demanded.

“I’m not really sure who they were exactly, but they were Jedi. I know that much.” She shrugged again. “But, well, that doesn’t really matter. Do you want me to tell you anyway?”

"I thought you said I’m not allowed to remember it.”

“You’re not. But if I tell you it all—everything—you might…you’d be able to… to feel it almost. You wouldn’t have any good, concrete memory of it, but you might—occasionally—have, well, not premonitions, but—I don’t know. Almost premonitions, maybe? About what’s a good idea and what’s a bad idea and who to trust and who not to trust. You wouldn’t know why. You wouldn’t remember and you’d never be able to know what came from your own instinct and what came from me. But it’d still be there. So, do you want me to tell you?”

Head spinning, I said yes. 

Next thing I knew, I was sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath. The morning sun was streaming through the windows.


	2. Chosen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, I started cross posting this ages ago and then just sorta... stopped. I'm starting again. I'll try and post the next chapter every week. Since the story is done, it should be okay, but I'm also editing the chapters for errors so maybe it won't be. Who knows? Let's hope, though, yeah?

I stood as straight and as still as I could, clasping my hands behind my back to try and hide how badly they were shaking.

Other girls stood on either side of me and, together, the twenty-five of us made a long straight line across one of the larger courtyards in the Naboo Royal Grounds. Captain Panaka, head of her Majesty's security and all-round frightening person, paced in front of us with military precision.

To the right of me, a skinny red-head was taking deep breaths when she wasn't muttering frantically under her breath. To my left, a curvy brunette girl twitched almost continuously. I wanted to strangle both of them. I was having enough trouble keeping calm without them constantly distracting me with their own nervous habits.

Finally, after what felt like several lifetimes, Captain Panaka stopped pacing and began to talk.

"You are here today because you have shown yourself to be talented in the areas of defense, etiquette, fashion and discretion. All of you are a credit to the Academy you attended, and ought to be proud of yourselves. Be that as it may, only thirteen of you can become Queen Amidala's handmaidens and only five of you her principal handmaidens," Panaka announced, his eyes drifting across all of us. "After careful consideration done by myself, Madame Duboen, Madame Risena" he nodded at the two Academy instructors standing behind him, "and Queen Amidala herself, we have reached a conclusion."

My stomach was roiling. This was everything I had ever wanted, ever hoped for. This was why I had gone to the Academy, why I had worked so hard at getting everything right, even the tedious things like make-up application and fashion design. If I wasn't chosen, I wasn't sure what I would do with myself.

"If I say your name, please come forward. After I have announced all thirteen of the handmaidens, the rest of you will be dismissed. Any questions?" Panaka asked, as if he seriously thought there was a chance one of us might be calm enough and patient enough to ask one.

Beside me, the redhead muttered a prayer under her breath. The girl to my left began bouncing up and down on her toes. I swallowed hard to keep the bile down in my stomach where it belonged. Unsurprisingly, no one had any questions.

"Then we'll begin." Panaka turned to accept the datapad that Madame Risena offered him. He called the first name. "Rabé Tirena."

A short dark-haired girl with big ears walked slowly forward, obviously struggling with a wide grin.

"Fé Quinna."

Fidget-Girl let out a whimper as a girl near the left end of the line bounced forward.

"Eirtaé Anidale."

The blonde girl who had run for Queen against Amidala flounced forward, sending all of us a smug smile.

"Snob," Redhead muttered.

I resisted the urge to scowl at the blonde and then puke on my shoes with some difficulty.

"Sené Loon."

Another girl strutted forward, looking proud and cold. I continued to resist the urge to throw-up.

"Ranamé Cambera."

Fidget-girl wiggled so much she knocked into me. I took a deep breath in through my nose, closed my eyes and tried to focus on soothing my stomach as opposed to glaring at her.

"Veta Corma."

Someone squealed. I opened my eyes to watch in utter astonishment as a tiny brunette ran forward, hugged Panaka around the waist, and then skipped over to stand with the other handmaidens.

Panaka looked a little alarmed but kept reading from the datapad. "Saché Menakam."

A beautiful short haired girl walked forward to join the others.

"Wicaté Zoola."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," Redhead muttered. I wished futilely that I had chosen to stand somewhere else in the line, next to calmer people.

"Yané Xentre."

A young girl walked forward, looking dazed, as though she thought this might just be a dream.

"Vinasé Marchan."

The world started to spin. Only three girls were left. Only three girls were left, and I hadn't been called yet.

"Ceramé Loon."

Two girls left. Only two girls left. Everything started to go white around the edges. With a start, I realized I wasn't breathing and forced myself to take in a lungful of air.

"Sagé Winsen."

One girl. Only one girl left.

Redhead was now keeping up a steady stream of swears under her breath and Fidget-girl was rocking back and forth so violently I almost thought she might fall over. I was definitely going to either throw up or pass out if Panaka didn't read out that last name soon.

"Sabé Reccen."

I nearly cried out with relief. Forcing my legs to stop wobbling underneath me, I walked forward to join the other twelve girls.

I heard a few wails from behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to feel bad for them. I was lightheaded from relief that my name had been called.

"Congratulations," Panaka told us quietly. "Now, please follow me."

And we all followed him out of the yard and into yet another palace courtyard, this one slightly smaller than the last.

The captain led us unerringly through impossibly elegant halls and past lovely gardens that quickly blurred together into one big mess of 'beautiful' in my mind.

Finally, we reached a large room with high ceilings and mats on the floor. A wide variety of practice weapons—from blasters to wooden staffs—hung around the walls.

"This is the main practice room," Panaka told us, "and where you'll be spending a great amount of your time the next few months, honing your defensive skills and improving your ability to handle any security threat you might encounter while in the employ of the Queen. For the next few weeks, you will be on trial in order to decide which handmaiden position you will eventually fill. You will be set up in a rotation for each position so that the Queen and I can see where you will be the best fit. You will each act as a principal handmaiden, guard, secretary, and the wardrobe and make-up specialist for five days each. Once five days are up, the positions will rotate until every handmaiden has filled every position. Are there any questions?"

All of us knew that while everyone in Naboo would think of us as merely 'royal handmaidens' there were really a variety of roles that we would actually fulfill. Traditionally, the Queen had four handmaiden guards who were specifically in charge of the Queen's security. The handmaiden guards primarily worked with the palace guard and Captain Panaka to arrange security details and monitor potential security threats to the queen. The three secretaries were primarily in charge of managing the Queen's schedule, planning royal events, running the palace household and handling both the galactic and planetary media. The Wardrobe and Make-up Specialist was the one handmaiden responsible for meeting with seamstresses and ensuring that the Queen's clothes were clean, in-style and appropriately Queenly, whatever that meant. The Specialist also ensured that the Queen never ran low on the ceremonial white and red paint that covered her face. These eight handmaidens then reported to the five principal handmaidens.

The principle handmaidens oversaw the rest of the handmaidens and ensured that every area of handmaidenship ran smoothly. They also accompanied the Queen everywhere she went, in order to act as her personal bodyguards, ensure that she kept to her schedule, advise her on matters of the court and the political climate, and to do anything else the Queen might possible require. When the people of Naboo thought of royal handmaidens, it was the principle handmaidens that most often sprang to mind. While it was an honor and a privilege to be a royal handmaiden of any kind, it was the highest of honors to be a principle handmaiden.

"Good," Panaka said briskly once it became quite clear that we had no questions. "I'll be giving you a quick tour of the palace, showing you where you will be sleeping and giving you your rotation assignments for the next three weeks. After that, the Queen will either place you or you will be given another rotation until she can decide. As I said earlier, this is the practice room. You will come in here every day…"

And we were off. The next couple of hours were a blur of white marble, twisting staircases, imposing statues, and beautiful pieces of art.

Panaka showed us around the palace, pointing out all of the places we would quickly become familiar with in our roles as handmaidens. Finally, after several hours that had me quite convinced that I would never be able to find my way around on my own, he led us to three connected rooms. There was one room in front with four beds. That room was connected to another bedroom to the right and a bit behind it. That one contained five beds and was connected to a room to the left and a bit in front of it, bringing it in line with the first room. Together, we were told, these three rooms formed a U-shape with the Queen's rooms in the middle.

Panaka just finished explaining the security reasons for the U-shaped handmaiden rooms when the Queen came in.

She was wearing a beautiful blue dress and her hair was done up in an elaborate braid, her face a picture of white with the two dots of symmetry and the scar of remembrance standing out sharply.

"Queen Amidala, your handmaidens," Panaka announced, bowing. "Handmaidens, Queen Amidala."

Queen Amidala swept forward to where the first of us, Saché I thought, was standing.

"Greetings. I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo. You are?" she asked, her beautiful voice carrying clearly across the room.

Saché swept into a deep bow. "Saché Menakam, your highness. It's great to meet you."

"And you," Amidala smiled, before moving on to the next girl to repeat the exchange.

After what felt like both ages and not even a second, she reached me. My hands were sweaty, and my stomach was churning again, but I forced myself to hold steady and meet her eyes squarely.

"I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo and you are?" she asked.

She was exactly my height and, as her brown eyes met mine, I had a sudden thought that she was kind and that I would like her.

I smiled back at her and swept into my very best bow. "Sabé, your highness. Sabé Reccen."

She nodded at me and continued down the line until she had introduced herself to everyone and been introduced to all of us in return.

Then, Panaka and the Queen left and the thirteen of us were alone together, all of us breathless with anticipation and wonder for the new life we were about to start.


	3. Handmaiden

The next three weeks went by in a blur of a noise and movement and trying not to get lost. Under the supervision of numerous servants and members of the court, I acted in each position the handmaidens' held and liked all of them except for the W and M Specialist which just made me want to blow my brains out. I didn't actually talk to any of the other girls so much. I just didn't know what to say to them.

However, I did decide that Eirtaé, the only blonde handmaiden and the former Queen candidate, needed to shrink her ego. I had worked with her on secretary duty and she was constantly trying to boss people around. She almost made poor little Veta, the girl who had hugged Panaka, cry.

Finally, I had pulled her aside and told her that we were all supposed to work as a team, and that, even though she probably did know more about proper etiquette than we did, she could teach us about it instead of just sneering at us. She had huffed at me and stalked away, but I noticed that she'd become a little more patient with everyone and slightly less bossy, even though she'd given me the cold shoulder for the rest of the day.

I also thought that Rabé, the first girl called, was the nicest handmaiden we had and was sure to be a principal handmaiden. That was what I truly wanted to be, but I was pretty sure that I had ruined my chance.

I had worked with Rabé as a principal handmaiden during the second week and she had been really kind and friendly. She had also been able to calm down Queen Amidala when the Queen got frustrated with one of her advisors during a meeting. Rabé had talked soothingly about useless, mindless things until the Queen's breathing returned to normal and she didn't look like she wanted to kill someone anymore.

I had been completely helpless in that situation as I was in full agreement with the Queen and thought that the advisor had to go. While Rabé calmed the Queen down and Ranamé tried to help by telling really awful jokes, I had relocated myself around the corner. Originally, I had only been planning on getting out of the way so that I didn't accidentally egg the Queen on. However, when Governor Bibble started to walk toward us, I assumed that the Queen wouldn't want to be disturbed and tried to play distraction by asking the poor man endless questions.

I had held him off for about a minute and probably could have for longer, but then the Queen walked around the corner and began a conversation with him. I knew that I had probably made a huge mistake in trying to stall him. Most likely she wouldn't have cared if he had seen her angry.

However, since I'd never heard of a handmaiden getting kicked out during her first three weeks for something as silly as making a wrong assumption during peace time, I wasn't too worried. They wouldn't kick me out, and I was sure I had done really well at guard duty. Captain Panaka had approved of all five of my protection plans, and only three of Saché's, the bluntest person I'd ever met, two of Fé's, a friendly girl who wanted to be secretary more than anything, and one of Wicaté's, a slightly scary girl who seemed to delight in other people's failures.

Before any of us were sure what was happening, the three weeks were up and the Queen called all thirteen of us into her private rooms.

She was wearing a majestic purple gown and her hair had been twisted into a beautiful headdress. She smiled at all of us as we entered and stood in a rather undignified clump at the door, looking around her private sitting room in awe.

It was the prettiest room I had ever seen. It was actually a surprisingly small room, with the 14 of us fitting comfortably for the moment, but really only meant for five or six people. There was a small fireplace, a mirror, a work desk, flowers, and candles. The entire room was painted a beautiful and impossibly pale, light purple. The white rug that covered the hard wood floors made me want to take off my shoes and sink my bare feet into it.

"Thank you all for coming here today," the Queen began, "Over the course of the last three weeks, you have all done absolutely exceptional jobs. I am very proud to have you all as my handmaidens. And there are, of course, certain areas in which you excel. So, after careful consideration, I have made my final decisions regarding your placements."

I could almost feel the excitement in the room go up. I exchanged grins with Vinasé, a witty girl I'd worked the principal rotation with, and Rabé, the two girls standing on either side of me.

"So, without further ado," Queen Amidala smiled, "Vinasé, Ceramé and Fé will be my secretaries."

I sent Fé a delighted smile, which she returned. She looked so happy I thought she might start flying away. I was happy too. I thought I'd be a better guard than a secretary, and I knew I'd be a guard because no one in their right mind would place me as the W and M Specialist.

"Veta, Sené, Ranamé, and Sagé will be my guards," Amidala continued.

I felt a small shock but quickly smothered it while trying not to let my hopes rise.

"Wicaté will be my Wardrobe and Make-up Specialist." Wicaté looked like a cat who'd just caught a mouse. "And Saché, Rabé, Eirtaé, Yané, and Sabé will be my principal handmaidens. Fantastic job, all of you," the Queen smiled. "I really look forward to working with all of you."

I felt gleeful as I turned to follow the rest of the girls out of Queen Amidala's rooms and into our own. This was what I always wanted—to be a principal handmaiden to the Queen, to follow her, and help her and be an important part of her life. I felt as though I might join Fé in flying around the palace.

"Would Saché, Rabé, Eirtaé, Yané and Sabé stay for just a bit longer please?" I heard the Queen call.

I turned around and, heart racing, I began to make my way back through the crowd and into Queen Amidala's rooms.


	4. Amidala

I had never found myself so thankful for my years at the orphanage than when I was walking back into Queen Amidala's rooms. The art of keeping a blank face when the matron was trying to force me to talk to her, had never come in quite so handy as it was now. I put all my orphanage years to good use, hiding my overwhelming joy behind a blank mask and forcing myself to think straight at the same time.

Finally, all the other girls except for the other principal handmaidens and me had left and the door had shut with a quiet click behind them.

Another smile, this one wider than the others she'd given us, spread across the Queen's face.

"Hi. I'm Padmé Amidala. Nice to meet you all," she said, her voice suddenly normal and not aloof and cool and royal.

My eyes darted to the other girls and I saw that they were all shifting awkwardly. I looked back to see the Queen's smile begin to fade just a little bit.

"Sabé. Nice to meet you too," I forced myself to say, stepping forward and offering her my hand to shake.

It seemed to me, from the way her posture had slumped just slightly and her voice had changed, that she had been trying to make things less formal. I only hoped I wasn't taking it too far.

My fears were quickly proved false when Amidala's smile grew wider and she reached forward to grasp my hand. She shook it enthusiastically and I gave her a real, honest-to-goodness smile in return.

"I'm hoping that, since you're going to be following me around all the time and helping me out with everything, that we can be a little less formal when it's just us together." Amidala sounded hopeful.

"That sounds lovely," agreed Rabé in her soft voice.

I turned to see her giving us all a shy smile, "I'd really like that," Rabé continued.

"It makes a lot of sense," Yané, the youngest of the handmaidens at eleven, nodded slowly. "It would undoubtedly get a little tiring constantly standing on procedure all the time. So, I think that would be a good idea."

"That's against protocol. That's completely inappropriate, your highness," Eirtaé said tightly.

I turned to her to see that her lips were pressed so hard together they were turning white and her eyes were flashing.

"Oh, stuff protocol," Saché announced loudly and with all the confidence a normal thirteen year old wouldn't have. "That's the best idea I've heard all day! Does that mean I can sit down? My feet are killing me," Saché exclaimed.

I turned to see Amidala looking a little bit startled, but she quickly nodded.

"Of course, go ahead, all of you," she invited, sitting down in the chair at the writing desk herself.

Saché immediately flung herself down onto a beautiful and delicate loveseat. Eirtaé took a sharp breath and I could almost feel disapproval coming off her in waves.

Rabé, Yané, and I exchanged uneasy looks. Sitting down in the monarch's presence was an insult of the highest degree, made only worse by the fact that, as her handmaidens, we were meant to be constantly on high alert around her, to ensure her safety. However, Amidala was looking at us so hopefully and Saché was already sitting down…

I bit my lip, gave another backwards glance at Eirtaé, Rabé, and Yané and then, slowly, hesitantly, I walked toward a chair near the fireplace. I uncertainly lowered myself into it, sitting uneasily on the very edge of my seat. Rabé and Yané slowly and cautiously followed my example, sitting down in the rest of the chairs spread across the room.

Eirtaé let out a huff and glared at me.

"That is not proper etiquette! Even you ought to know that!" she hissed in my direction.

I glanced at Queen Amidala and saw that she was too busy massaging the back of her neck to be paying any notice to Eirtaé and me. Or at least she was doing a very good job of pretending not to.

"Oh stuff it," retorted Saché lazily. "I think it's bad manners to go against the Queen's wishes. Now get off your high horse and come sit down already," Saché added irritably.

Eirtaé, if anything, stiffened up more and stared woodenly off into the distance.

"Your highness?" Rabé asked somewhat awkwardly. "Is something wrong with your neck?"

"Hmm?" Amidala glanced up. "Oh, no. It's just my hair gets a little bit heavy after a while, but it's fine."

"Would—" started Rabé uncertainly, "Would you like me to maybe take your hair down for you?"

Amidala looked somewhat startled, but then nodded slowly. "If you wouldn't mind Rabé, that would be lovely."

"Of course," Rabé murmured, smoothly rising to her feet and gliding over to Amidala.

All of us (except for Eirtaé who was still stubbornly staring off into space) watched as Rabé deftly undid the complicated hairstyle and untwisted it from the heavy headdress, leaving the Queen's impossibly long hair to fall down her back in a mass of curls and waves and tangles.

"Who was doing your hair and helping you with your clothes and make up before we came along?" Yané abruptly asked. "I've been wondering about it ever since you introduced yourself to us and I couldn't find any answers anywhere. All it said was that the former Queen's handmaidens were supposed to help the new Queen until the new Queen picked new handmaidens. But King Veruna didn't have any handmaidens. So who helped you? Your highness." Yané quickly tacked the title onto the end of the question and began blushing as we all stared.

"Well," Amidala began, "I did, mainly. I just picked the simplest outfits I could find and did my hair up the best I could by myself. When I couldn't quite manage it, I either improvised or asked a nearby maid to help me out a bit."

"Thank you," Yané mumbled in a small voice. "I appreciate the answer, your highness."

Amidala gave Yané a sympathetic smile. "Of course, Yané. I don't mind at all. I love questions."

"You do?" Yané asked, her head shooting up, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Of course. How else are you to learn anything if you don't ask?"

Yané's face broke out into an impossibly wide smile, "I know! Mama always tells me that my questions are annoying and useless, but how am I supposed to get anything figured out when I can't find it on my own without asking questions? I'm so glad you agree, your highness."

"Do you happen to have a hairbrush anywhere, your highness? I think I could get some of these knots out if you do," Rabé lightly interrupted.

"Yes, I do," Amidala made to stand up. "I'll go and get it."

Eirtaé let out another huff and, this time, I agreed with her.

"Oh no, your highness, that's alright. You stay seated. I can get it. Where did you say it was?" Rabé asked, hurrying toward the door before Amidala could get out of her chair. Obviously, she agreed with Eirtaé and me.

"I—" Amidala looked slightly bewildered as she gestured to the right. "My bedroom is just down the hall, and it's the second door to the left. It should be on my bureau, but—"

Rabé, though, had already executed a swift bow and left the room.

"I could have gotten it," The Queen said sort of feebly.

"Don't be ridiculous, highness," Saché said dismissively, unknowingly voicing my thoughts as well. "We're your handmaidens. It's our job to do that kind of thing. While you obviously could have gotten it, we're here to make things easier for you so you can focus on important things, like, I don't know, ruling the planet, instead of fetching your hairbrush."

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that," Eirtaé murmured as she crossed closer to us. "But I suppose, though somewhat crude, that does get the point across."

Saché rolled her eyes.

"Oh," Amidala said, very quietly. "Well, thank you, I suppose."

Just then, Rabé reentered, the hairbrush in her hand, and crossed back over to Amidala. Rabé began to run the brush through the dark waves, patiently working out the many, many tangles.

"Who did your hair this morning? It looks like they knotted it!" Saché exclaimed, craning her neck to stare wide-eyed at the mess that was Amidala's hair.

I had to admit that Saché had a point. There were more knots in Amidala's hair than I'd ever seen in another person's hair in my life. They weren't even elegant knots that, though a pain to get in and out, enhanced the hairstyle. They were just ratty, tangled snarls.

"I think they did," Eirtaé agreed, sounding faintly disgusted. "Who was it? So we can know to never let them near your hair ever, ever again."

"That's a bit cruel, Eirtaé," I interjected. "Maybe they're still learning," I pointed out. I was trying not to blush though. While I wasn't responsible for Amidala's poor rat's nest tonight, I was sure that my attempts at hairdressing had done similar things to her hair.

"Well then they should have just admitted it and let someone else do it," Eirtaé retorted. "That looks like it will take a week and a half to get back to normal."

"As much as I hate to say it, your highness, I think I have to agree with Eirtaé. Even Sabé's wasn't—" Rabé cut herself off abruptly, blushing furiously as she continued to focus solely on untangling another knot.

I winced but, since Rabé was saying nothing but the truth, I decided to try and make her feel better about accidentally insulting me, "You mean someone is worse at doing hair than me? I didn't think that was possible. And, by the way your highness, I am so, so sorry. I tried to convince Rabé and Ranamé and Vinasé and Sagé to not let me near the hairbrush but they all insisted that I was better than I said I was, which, obviously, I'm not."

"You did this?" Yané asked incredulously.

I winced again. "No. Not this one, although, I imagine my attempt ended up something like this too."

"It wasn't quite this bad," Rabé said quietly, looking relieved. "And yours actually looked really fabulous when it was up, even if did leave a lot of tangles behind. This one…" Rabé hesitated but continued, "Well, I imagine you had to try and tighten it up a couple of times, your highness, and, on closer inspection, it did look sort of messy as opposed to elegant."

Amidala smiled faintly, "You're right, Rabé. I had to try to redo it at least twice because it kept falling down. And, Sabé, you have nothing to apologize for. You didn't hurt me at all when you were putting it in and it looked really nice once it was up, even if it did take a little while to take out."

"How did you get this far if you can't do hair?" Eirtaé suddenly demanded, looking irritated.

"I can do simple things!" I protested. "I can even do regular things! I passed the hair, makeup, and wardrobe stage with flying colors! I just, I can't do all the complicated headdress things without…" I struggled for a moment, "Securing it very, very well," I finally decided on.

"But who did it today, highness?" Saché interrupted, "You never told us."

"Don't go spreading this around," Amidala requested, giving us all pointed looks before continuing. "It was Sené, a lovely girl, who, unfortunately, isn't very gifted in this particular area."

"I'll say," Saché muttered, shaking her head.

Amidala winced as Rabé pulled at a particularly tight tangle.

"So," Yané began after several moments of silence, "I was just wondering what it is, your highness, that you expect us all to do? According to my research, each Queen requires slightly different things of her principal handmaidens. Do you have anything in mind for us, yet? Anything in particular you think we should be in charge of, your highness?"

Amidala was quiet for a long moment, staring off into space.

When she spoke, I thought she sounded sort of sad. "I haven't quite decided everything yet. I would like to get to know you all a little bit better before I give you definite duties. But, I would appreciate it if you could help me learn all of the etiquette of the court as well as all the gossip and rumors surrounding my advisors and the nobles, Eirtaé. Does that sound acceptable to you?" Amidala asked, suddenly sounding a little more professional.

Eirtaé gave a deep bow and, when she rose, I saw a look of satisfaction gleam in her eye. "I would be honored, milady."

"And, Rabé, I would love you to help me with my hair every day, if that's acceptable," Amidala continued.

"Of course your highness," Rabé replied happily, continuing to work the brush through the Queen's snarls.

"As for the rest of you, I haven't really decided yet," Amidala finished with a shrug. "I'm sure the better I get to know you all the clearer your jobs will be. For now, I guess, if the three of you want to divide up the jobs of retrieving the schedule, the guard detail, and the wardrobe, and the job of conducting meeting research that would be really helpful."

"I'm not talking to the Scary Lady. Someone else can pick up the wardrobe, because I am not," Saché announced immediately.

"I'd love to do meeting research!" exclaimed Yané, looking positively delighted. "That would just be researching all the people on your schedule and putting together organized files on them and their situation for you to read, right?"

Amidala gave a small smile. "Yes. As well as ensuring all of my newspapers are ready for me at breakfast."

"Do you mind if I do that one?" Yané asked, looking hopeful.

"I'll get the guard detail and the schedule," Saché declared, giving me a stern look. "Because I am not dealing with Scary Lady."

I didn't particularly want to deal with Wicaté either, but, since I was two years older than her, I supposed I could probably handle it better.

"Alright. I'll do Wardrobe pick-up then. What time will you want that down here by?" I asked, resigned to my fate of dealing with the cruel girl every day.

"Um…" Amidala paused. "Well…" she paused again, "I guess that will depend on when my first meeting of the day is. Tomorrow I have my first meeting at six in the morning, I believe, and I'll need an hour to read over my schedule and guard detail and eat breakfast for sure… So," Amidala thought for a while."I suppose if I could have my schedule and guard detail by… Rabé, how long do you think it will take for me to get ready for the day?"

"Hmm," Rabé murmured, still slowly working out the tangles. "If I get all these knots out tonight, it will probably take me about an hour and a half to get your hair and make-up ready in the morning and you'll want to be dressed and have eaten before that, so you don't muss anything up…"

"Of course," Amidala mused.

Saché and Yané's eyes were really wide. I was starting to feel a little shocked myself. With a six o'clock meeting and two and a half hours to get ready so far, we were already waking up at 3:30 in the morning.

"I suppose I can read over the schedule and guard detail while I'm getting my hair done, so… If I could be woken up at 3:30, have my dress by 3:45, and my guard detail, schedule and meeting research by 4:00, which will give us two hours to get my hair and make-up ready as well as reach the throne room… Yes," Amidala nodded decisively. "Tomorrow, if I could be woken up by 3:30 and have my dress by 3:45, that would be wonderful."

"Okay," Saché said dumbly, looking as if she was in shock. "In that case, I think I'm going to tell the other girls when we'll need everything by and then I'm going to go to bed. Because it's already 9:30, which means we'll only be getting six hours of sleep."

"Of course. You're all free to go to bed. I can try to get the rest of the snarls out, Rabé," Amidala said graciously, half turning to look at Rabé.

"I should be done in only a few more minutes your highness," Rabé demurred politely.

I stood up. I needed to talk to Wicaté and let her know the plan for tomorrow as soon as possible.

"Good night, your highness," I bowed to her and then, as gracefully as I could, left the Queen's rooms.

The moment I entered the handmaiden quarters, I was swarmed.

"So? What happened? What are you doing?"

"What did she say to you all?"

"Are you in trouble?"

"Did you get to see her other private rooms?"

"Are they gorgeous?"

"Did she mention me?"

"Where are the others?"

"Are they in trouble?"

"How's tomorrow working now that no one's supervising us anymore?"

"Are we still being supervised?"

"What did she tell you?"

"Did she have you help her into bed?"

"Do you think she's going to be really demanding?"

The voices and questions came flying at me so quickly I didn't think I could see straight for a moment.

However, I quickly gathered myself together and let out a loud whistle that Madame Winn had taught me at the Academy.

Everyone fell silent, watching me with intent eyes.

"Alright girls, her highness is waking up at 3:30 tomorrow morning. She wants her dress in her room and ready to put on by 3:45, and her schedule and guard detail by 4:00. Yané will probably need to see the schedule by at least 3:20, if not 3:00 so she can prepare a file for the Queen to read over breakfast. You'll also want the kitchens to have the Queen’s food ready to be picked up by 3:20. Saché will be coming to pick the schedule up from you girls, as well as the guard detail probably around 3:20, but I'm not sure, talk to Saché. Wicaté, I'll be coming to pick up the dress. We'll have to figure out what time you'll be ready by and how much time I should have to transport it safely to the Queen's rooms. Okay?" I pitched my voice so that all the girls could hear me, another lesson I learned from the formidable Madame Winn.

"What?"

"How are we supposed to get that ready in time?"

"Where is Saché?"

"3:00?"

"What does Yané need to do?"

"Why didn't we get this ready earlier?"

"Will we have to get up that early every day?"

"3:00?"

"Should we tell the cooks now?"

"Where's Saché?"

"Why is she waking up so early?"

"We have to be up by 3:00?"

"We're not going to be able to get that done in time!"

"Where's Saché?"

"What are Rabé and Eirtaé doing?"

"We have to be up before 3:00…"

"They don't get to sleep in, do they?"

"How am I supposed to get an outfit fit for the Queen in six hours?"

"Where's Saché?"

"Before 3:00!"

"This isn't going to work!"

"This is insane!"

"QUIET!" Eirtaé roared.

I snapped my head to see that Eirtaé, Saché, and Yané were now standing in the doorway with me.

"Okay, secretaries to Yané, Guards to Saché, Wicaté to Sabé," Eirtaé ordered briskly.

Everyone stared at Eirtaé. I saw Sené start to sneer and she was undoubtedly going to say something rude.

"Sounds good to me," I quickly interjected, hoping to forestall any arguments. "Wicaté, do you have any idea what you're going to have the Queen wear?" I asked, waving Wicaté off to the side as I wandered farther in and to the right.

Wicaté sent me an amused look but followed me nonetheless.

"Good defusing," she drawled, crossing her arms over her chest and watching as the others slowly split into the groups Eirtaé had suggested.

I rolled my eyes and ignored her. "So how do you want to work tomorrow?" I was privately hoping that she wouldn't suddenly attack me.

"Sabé," Eirtaé, who had appeared from nowhere looking irritated (I was beginning to think her face was permanently stuck like that), began, "I'm going to wake the Queen up and get her food. Yané and the secretaries are getting everything done tonight so Yané just has to wake up and grab the newspapers and deliver the files. Saché's picking up the guard detail in the morning and bringing the schedules over and everything. You just have to get the—"

"Wardrobe and dress the queen, she knows! Stars!" Wicaté snapped. "She knows what she's doing! Come on, Sabé, we've only got six hours to get a dress fit for the queen."

And then she dragged me out the door and toward the Wardrobe room.


	5. Dress

I spent the next six hours watching numbly as Wicaté raided the large room filled to the brim with elaborate headdresses, scarves, hats, dresses, vests, and shoes. Occasionally, I tried on combinations of skirts and vests with different accessories and different shoes. Nearly everytime, Wicaté made some disparaging comment and ordered me out of them before muttering cruel things about the people in charge of the Queen's wardrobe under her breath. Multiple times she wondered out loud how the people in charge could possibly feel comfortable letting their Queen out in such creations, which were nearly all obvious rip-offs of someone else's clothes. I was even forced to listen to several impassioned speeches about what Wicaté was all going to change while trying not to nod off.

Finally, she shoved me into a hideous green monstrosity about two sizes too big for me and her eyes lit up. She forced me onto a stool and told me to stay right there. By that time, I was too tired to think coherently much less move of my own volition. I was fuzzily aware of Wicaté coming toward me with a needle and thread, large scissors, two huge, thick knitting needles, a measuring tape and black yarn. The next thing I knew, I was being asked if I knew how to knit and was then pressganged into knitting a large black thing that had huge evenly spaced holes while Wicaté began hacking at the green monstrosity and sewing it back together in new ways.

Finally, Wicaté grabbed the knitting needles from me, and told me to put the green dress back on while she finished whatever it was I was knitting.

Another blur went by and the next thing I knew, I was standing in a beautiful green dress with an elegant black knitted overskirt, revealing the green satin through its evenly spaced holes. It was quite possibly the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen and, despite the knitting involved, was also very ceremonial and formal just like a queen's dress should be.

"Brilliant," Wicaté announced with satisfaction, as she surveyed me in her creation. "It's really lucky you and the Queen are so similar in size, or I'd have had to go up to make some last minute adjustments on her."

"This is amazing, Wicaté," I breathed, slowly turning around in front of the mirror and craning my head to see the back of the dress.

"I know," Wicaté agreed carelessly. "Now go upstairs, get ready for the day and then come back down to pick it up. I still have to accessorize it and, seeing as it's already 2:58, you have to get ready for the day."

I almost cried. I was so tired I wasn't seeing straight and the thought that my day hadn't even begun yet was the most awful thing I'd ever heard. From Wicaté's smugly amused look, I imagined she knew it too.

Nonetheless, I forced myself back upstairs and into the fresher. By the time I was ready for the day, it was 3:18. Eirtaé, looking perfectly awake and put together, had already swept out of the room to fetch the Queen's breakfast. Yané, who had been asleep at her desk when I came in, was now feverishly adding things to a piece of flimsy, looking just as exhausted as I felt. Saché was just rolling out of bed, eyes looking around blearily as she stumbled toward the fresher I had just left.

"Good morning all," Rabé announced cheerfully as she walked into the room, carrying a tray with her. "I thought we might need some breakfast to get our first official day as Queen Amidala's handmaidens off to a good start."

"Rabé, you are a lifesaver," I said gratefully, grabbing a roll and a piece of fruit.

Rabé looked very pleased with herself as I stumbled out of the room, eating my breakfast as I went.

Finally, I arrived back down in the Wardrobe room.

"About time you got here," Wicaté snapped when she saw me enter. "Here." She shoved several gold hairbands with green and black feathers attached into my arms. "These are for her hair. Tell whoever it is that's doing it, to put the ones with the largest feathers in the back and work their way up to the smallest feathers. This veil," here, she handed me a delicate green gold veil, "goes underneath them to cover her hair. These are her shoes," she gave me a pair of tall, delicate high heels, "her stockings," black stockings were added to my pile, "her slip, her corset, her hoops, her petticoats, her overskirt, and this," Here, Wicaté handed me a hanger covered with a tall, thick maroon bag hanging heavily from it, " is the actual dress itself. I put it on you enough times that you ought to know how it goes on. And, for heaven's sakes, tell everyone to wear a black handmaiden dress! Not green! The black will make the dress look much more dramatic. Now go, before you're late."

Feeling absolutely discombobulated, I stumbled from the room, trying to keep all of the skirts and accessories in my arms as well as the hanger high enough that the dress wouldn't brush the floor.

"And wake me up if something doesn't fit right!" Wicaté hollered after me.

I just nodded, too afraid to do anything else lest something fall.

At exactly 3:45 I stumbled into the Queen's quarters, having opened the door with my knee and pushed it shut again with my foot. The door closed with a bang and I quickly hurried down the hall to where I knew the dressing room to be.

"Sabé?" Yané called, opening the door to the Queen's dressing room as I headed toward it. Her mouth fell open when she saw me.

"What is all that?" she whispered in disbelief as I came up to her, my arms full to the brim and everything balanced precariously.

"The Queen's clothes for the day," I grunted. "Can you let me in? Oh, and can you tell all the handmaidens that Wicaté said to wear black today? I don't know why, something about dramatics, I think."

Yané stood to the side as I swung my way in. The Queen turned at my entrance and she blinked at me for several moments, shock clearly showing at the armload I dumped on the large table in the middle of the room.

"That's all for one outfit?" she asked, eyes wide. "I don't think I've ever worn that much clothing in my life."

"Yes, well, I think that might be changing now that Wicaté's in charge, your highness," I said without thinking as I gave her a deep bow.

"Now." I put my hands on my hips and surveyed the massive pile. "This," I said, pulling out a silky white underdress, "goes on first, right over your underwear. Wicaté said it was your slip for the day. Oh, and these are your stockings."

I turned to her, holding the slip and black stockings out.

"Alright," Amidala said, sounding a little unsure. "I'll get into this in the refresher if you don't mind."

"Go right ahead, your highness," I agreed, waving her on. "I'm going to try and sort this out. Wicaté sort of just shoved it all into my hands, with only about a ten second explanation, if that," I grumbled under my breath as the queen left for the fresher. Yané, muttering something about changing, left too.

By the time the Queen got back, I finally had everything organized and I quickly began to help her into the elaborate outfit. I had just helped her slip the overskirt, a simple green skirt that matched the color of her dress, over her petticoats and hoops when Rabé and Saché walked in, both wearing simple black dresses with hoods.

They both stopped dead in the doorway, staring.

"Okay, now the dress itself," I said with a sigh, putting my hands on my hips.

"Finally," Amidala sighed. "I felt like we were never going to get there. I think this is the most complicated thing I have ever worn in my life."

"My heavens," Rabé finally breathed from the doorway.

"How many different layers are you wearing?" Saché demanded incredulously.

"Are you counting all the different petticoats separately?" I asked dryly, as I hung the maroon sack on one of the many clothes hooks lining the room. I quickly unbuttoned it and the dress appeared in all its glory.

"Oh my," Amidala murmured. "It's beautiful."

I sent a small smile over my shoulder towards her as I took the dress off the hanger and very carefully bunched up the skirt.

"Arms up milady," I ordered gently.

Amidala obediently put her arms up over her head. I stood on a small stool I had located in the corner of a closet and began to ease the dress over her head.

As I did so, I began to pass on the rest of Wicaté's instructions. "Rabé, do you see the gold bands with the feathers on the table and the green veil?"

"Yes," Rabé answered slowly as I began to pull the tight sleeves underneath the billowing sleeves further down on Amidala's arms.

"Great. Well," and I told her what Wicaté had told me concerning them, as I began to ease the bodice the rest of the way down and slip the skirt over the hoops and petticoats.

"Alright. I think…" Rabé paused then continued decisively, "Yes, I know what I'll do."

"Your highness? Where did you want me to put your guard detail and schedule?" Saché asked.

"Hmm…" Amidala thought while I finished smoothing out the dress. "What time is it?"

"4:23, your highness," Saché replied promptly as Rabé began to set up the hair pieces at the dressing table.

"I'm so sorry to ask this of you Saché, but would you mind reading them to me? I think we may have to rush this a bit because of how complicated the dress was. Sabé, do you think you could do my make-up while Rabé does my hair and Saché reads?" Amidala requested, sweeping over to the dressing table's bench and turning it sideways to the mirror and table top.

Honestly, all I wanted to do was lay down on the floor and sleep. However, my queen needed me.

Blinking rapidly, I nodded. "Of course, your highness."

At 5:42 precisely, Queen Amidala's make-up had been applied, her hair done, and Rabé was helping her to slip into the delicate black high heels Wicaté had given me. I was practically sprinting out of her quarters, down the hall, and into my room.

I threw off my green dress and scrambled into the black one the other girls had chosen to wear. I had just secured my hair in a bun and threw my hood up as I burst into the hall.

Eirtaé, Rabé, Saché, Yané and Amidala were all standing outside the Queen's rooms, waiting for me as I skidded toward them. Eirtaé was looking at me with distinct disapproval.

"You're standing here," Eirtaé snapped, grabbing me and moving me into place right behind Amidala's left shoulder. Yané was walking to my right and a little father back, Saché directly behind Amidala's right shoulder and even with me, Rabé standing to the Queen's right and a bit behind and Eirtaé standing on my other side to the queen's left and a bit behind, making her even with Rabé.

"Ready, everyone?" the Queen asked, almost sounding amused.

"Yes, your highness," we all chorused in unison as we swept into bows.

"Then let us head to the throne room with all haste. It wouldn't do for the Queen to be late." And then she swept off, leaving us scrambling to catch up.

As we finally found a rhythm to walk to, I mentally willed myself to keep standing.

It wasn't even six o'clock of my first day as a principal handmaiden and already I was exhausted. I wasn't sure I wanted to find out what the rest of the day was going to be like.


	6. Tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm, um, going to try (again) to be more consistent with posting here. All the editing is done so, uh, maybe I'll be better at it? ....maybe?

The rest of the day actually wasn't nearly as hectic as the morning had been. In fact, I quickly found that my biggest problem would simply be staying awake.

The Queen had meeting after meeting in the throne room that day and so, after sliding into our seats behind the Queen's throne at exactly 5:59, we hadn't done much but sit and listen to the Queen talk to people. She talked to the governor and her advisors and heads of departments. She talked to diplomats and professors and inventors. She talked and then listened while whoever it was she was meeting with talked and talked and talked to her.

It was never-ending. My admiration for her, however, increased by a ten-fold. I never would have had the patience to argue with, and soothe and promise and just listen to all the fools who came to meet with her. I definitely wouldn't have been able to make myself actually care about what they were telling me. In fact, I probably would have even felt a little drowsy.

As it was, since I was simply a handmaiden and didn't actually have to listen, I was exhausted. It was a constant battle to force myself to stay awake and stay looking at least somewhat alert. I was helped along by the glares Eirtaé sent my way whenever she thought no one would notice. While I was too tired to force myself to care what Eirtaé thought of me, her evil looks did remind me that if I did something wrong it would reflect badly on the Queen, which was the last thing I wanted.

Finally, it was lunchtime. I nearly sighed with relief, deliriously thinking of skipping lunch altogether to sleep. Unfortunately, my plan was quickly ruined.

Eirtaé, who had slipped out during the Queen's last meeting to pick up our lunches, returned only seconds after Sir Winas left. As the Queen led us to a small meeting room with a table only a short ways from the throne room, Eirtaé began to talk.

"Your highness," she began as Yané closed the door to the meeting room, "I was thinking that, perhaps, now would be a good time to give a first etiquette lesson?"

"Of course," the Queen bowed her head in Eirtaé's direction. "Please proceed, and thank you for fetching lunch."

"Of course, your highness," Eirtaé beamed. "Now, I was thinking that I should just go over basic throne room etiquette and what the nobles expect from all of us when we're in the throne room. You are really doing a wonderful job, your highness, there were just a few things I noticed that could be improved upon…"

And then we were off, my hopes of sleep dashed, as I forced myself to try and pay attention to Eirtaé's lecture on proper posture and the Importance of Hand Gestures and Eye Contact (or Lack Thereof).

After lunch, we returned to the throne room for even more tedious meetings. I actually caught myself nodding off three times, earning myself death glares from Eirtaé and worried glances from Rabé and Yané. Saché even began to subtly throw bits of flimsy and other random things in my direction in an effort to keep me awake.

By the time dinner came around, my head was feeling light and fuzzy and I wasn't entirely convinced I could walk straight. However, I did my best to walk back to the meeting room, once again planning on sleeping instead of eating.

However, my plan was once again ruined as Wicaté, looking wide-awake and smug, sailed in, said a couple of things to the Queen and sailed back out with me in her company.

"Well don't you look all wide-awake," Wicaté sniggered as she pulled me down the halls.

"I haven't slept in over 24 hours, Wicaté," I mumbled. "I feel like the walking dead."

"You look the walking dead too," Wicaté grinned. "But don't worry. All you have to do is try on dresses for me. I talked to those awful secretaries and they said the Queen won't have time to do fittings for another month!" Wicaté grimaced, looking beyond irritated. "How they can't fit in a five hour fitting session for something this important is completely beyond me, but," Wicaté took a deep breath, "I suppose you'll have to do for now. I don't know if you caught this, since you looked like you were off planet while I was taking to Queen Amidala, but I have permission to take you after dinner to have you fit clothes, since you are almost exactly same size and shape of the Queen, every day until she can actually have her fitting. So, basically, you get to be a human mannequin for the next month."

"Wonderful," I muttered, before entering into the cursed Wardrobe room.

I spent the next three hours being shoved around by Wicaté, being forced into dress after dress, while she poked and prodded, and pinned and sewed and I didn't even know what else.

Finally, at nine o'clock, I stumbled out of the Wardrobe room and headed back toward my room, my feet dragging and my eyes sagging shut. However, I had just reached the door to the Handmaiden rooms when Saché, Rabé, Eirtaé and Yané came out.

"Oh no," I moaned, "Now what?"

"Panaka wants us in the practice room," Yané told me with a sympathetic smile. "Apparently, he's been taking groups of handmaidens to practice all day and, now that the Queen's in bed, it's our turn."

"This must be some sort of cosmic joke," I muttered, reluctantly turning on heel to follow the others.

"How much sleep did you get last night, Sabé?" asked Rabé, concerned.

I snorted. "How much? Rabé, I didn't get any. I was up all night playing mannequin and professional knitter for Wicaté. The last time I slept was…" I tried to do the math, but my poor brain couldn't quite manage it, "a long time ago."

"Well, we're almost done," Yané pointed out. "Only an hour more and you can go to sleep."

"Yeah, just an hour of getting beaten half to death by Panaka. That's nothing," remarked Saché, the sarcasm practically dripping. "And then we get to wake up at three again! Which, you know, is just fantastic."

"Stop complaining Saché," Eirtaé ordered. "It's getting really irritating."

"And you're not?" Saché sneered. "Just because you're from a really wealthy family and ran to be Queen doesn't make you any better than the rest of us. In case you haven't noticed, you're still just a handmaiden. So stop ordering me around and acting like you're so much better than me, because you're not!"

Eirtaé stopped and a really ugly look crossed her face. "If you think—"

"Hey," I interrupted feebly. "As much as I agree with both of you, do you think we can have this argument another time? When I'm actually kind of awake and we're not all about to get the crap beaten out of us by Panaka?"

Everyone fell quiet and we walked in silence to the practice room.

Rabé quietly opened the door and Yané slipped in first, Saché right behind her.

"Oh!" Yané went flying across the room and Saché's eyes widened as she suddenly fell into a defensive position, getting pushed farther and farther backward.

Rabé looked alarmed and ran into the room next, her legs and arms flying as she tried to help Saché beat—well, whoever it was that was attacking them.

Eirtaé almost looked smug before flipping her hood down and strolling into the room, joining Saché and Rabé in fighting—someone.

I just blinked at them for a moment, trying to comprehend what was going on. Finally giving it up as a bad job and figuring that it didn't matter who it was or why, I gathered up all my energy (what little there was left) and went flying into the fray.

The moment I entered the room, I saw the thirteen people I hadn't seen before who were converging on all of us. Yané was desperately trying to fend off five people by herself, Saché was battling with two, Rabé three and Eirtaé was starting to look a little nervous as she tried to fight off three more.

Quickly surveying the room, I began to punch and kick my way over to where Yané was slowly getting overrun. The eleven year old was putting up a good fight, but it was five on one and they were all much bigger than her. Finally, I drew even with her and, back to back, we began to hold them off.

"What's the point of this exercise?" I called to her, wondering if I should be trying to knock my attackers out or what.

"I—don't—know!" Yané panted, before I heard someone give out a loud grunt.

"Brilliant," I muttered to myself, as I blocked a punch from a tall, broadly built man, before kicking him in the stomach. He stumbled backward as I whirled to grab another man's leg as he tried to kick me. I flipped him to the ground and, slowly, despite my exhaustion, I fell into the rhythm of the fight, losing myself to my training; kicking, punching, twisting, and ducking whoever came my way, always trying to keep an eye on Yané, who was still fighting at my back.

But then, finally, almost inevitably, Yané tired and was pulled away from me, no matter how much I tried to fight to stay close to her, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw them begin to tie her up as more and more people began to converge on me. Soon, people were coming at me from all directions as I tried desperately to get my back to a corner. But I couldn't and, before I knew it, I too was getting tied up despite my struggles.

The moment they finished, I looked around to see Yané, Rabé, Eirtaé and Saché also tied up and sitting on the floor around me. I was, however, glad to see our thirteen attackers looking distinctly worse for the wear, a couple of them nursing swollen eyes and bleeding noses and all of them wincing.

Then, Panaka emerged from a corner and advanced on us, scowling. Whatever pride I'd been feeling quickly drifted away and all the exhaustion that had been momentarily covered by the adrenaline rush crashed back down, closely followed by embarrassment that we, the Queen's most important line of defense, were sitting in the middle of the floor, tied up.

"Disgraceful," he spat. "That was absolutely disgraceful. You are supposed to be the Queen's most important protectors. You are supposed to be responsible for her safety, her life and here you are," he looked a little bit disgusted with us as we sat on the floor looking up at him. "You allowed yourself to get split up and ganged up on. You took no defensible position. Yané, you allowed yourself to be surprised. Saché, you didn't learn from her mistake. Rabé, you jumped in without thinking and Eirtaé, you must have known what was happening but, instead of working together with Sabé to try and help the other handmaidens, you came in on your own. And Sabé, what took you so long? You must have known what was happening and yet you hesitated in the hallway for at least a minute after everyone else had already come in. What were you all thinking? If that's the way you're all going to act when the Queen is under attack, you and Queen Amidala will all be dead," Panaka hissed.

My head, once again thoroughly fuzzy, began to spin. I saw Panaka's mouth moving but couldn't make sense of the words coming out.

"Sabé!" he suddenly shouted. "Are you even listening to me?" he demanded furiously, looking like he might explode.

"No," I answered blurrily. "I'm not. I haven't slept in at least 48 hours. I can barely even remember my own name, much less whatever you're saying. I know the other girls haven't got much sleep either. So, if it's really so important, can't you just tell us tomorrow? After we've slept? When we'll actually remember?"

The entire room was completely silent and I had a vague idea that I'd just done something horrifically stupid. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite make myself care.

"Please?" I added, when the silence began to stretch on. "We have to wake up at 2:30 tomorrow. Can't we just go to bed?"

There was more silence.

Finally, Panaka shook his head and sighed. "Untie them. But I expect to see all of you down here at 8:30 sharp tomorrow night, wide awake, with no excuses. We will talk about this then," he said cuttingly before turning on heel and marching out.

The moment I was untied, I struggled to my feet.

"You just talked back to Panaka," Yané whispered in something like awe as we began to walk back to our rooms. "And you survived."

"I can't believe you had the nerve to say that to him! He's a celebrated Captain in the army and Head of Security! That was completely inappropriate!" Eirtaé announced, for once sounding more stunned than prissy.

"Yeah, well, I'm exhausted," I replied muzzily, putting my head in the palm of my hand as we kept walking.

"We all are," Rabé agreed. "We probably wouldn't have remembered anything he said because of how late we had to stay up last night."

"Sabé," Saché said, sounding the most serious I'd ever heard her, "You're my new hero."

"Great," I mumbled, throwing the door to the handmaiden rooms open, and stumbling toward my bed. "Someone wake me up at 2:30."


	7. Fitting

After that first crazy day, things slowly began to settle themselves down into a routine. Every day, Saché, Yané, Rabé, Eirtaé and I woke up at some horribly early hour, most commonly 3:00, or 3:30. Then, Rabé would get us breakfast and we'd all slowly wake ourselves up and cautiously talk to each other while we ate, always very careful not to insult one another. After a horrible fight between Saché and Eirtaé that ended up nearly destroying Rabé's bed and made us late to getting Amidala ready, we all agreed that fights weren't allowed until lunchtime.

Next we'd all go our separate ways, me to the Wardrobe room where I'd grab the baskets and hangers full of the Queen's clothes that Wicaté had arranged the night before. While bringing them up to Amidala's room, I'd read Wicaté's instructions for putting them on her. Then, I'd help the Queen get dressed and put on her make-up while Rabé did her hair and Saché gave the run-down for the day. Then, we'd all follow her every step, taking short meals in tiny meeting rooms.

After dinner, Wicaté would show up and whisk me back down to the wardrobe room where I'd listen to her lecture and speculate and dream up new outfits out loud while trying on dress after dress. Then, at 7:00, I'd go and spend about an hour with Queen Amidala and the others, talking about the next day and other unimportant things. I usually ended up stopping Eirtaé and Saché from trying to murder each other at least once. After that, at 8:30, Amidala would go to bed and the five of us would go to get ourselves half beaten to death by Panaka.

Then we'd go to sleep and start it all over again.

However, the day of Amidala's fitting ("Finally!" Wicaté had grumbled to me. "I've been trying to convince those blasted secretaries—they shouldn't even count as handmaidens they're so absolutely useless—to get a fitting in for the past three months! How do they expect me to dress the Queen without ever actually having a fitting with her?" Never mind, of course, that was just what she'd been doing the past three months) everything began to change.

Rabé, Eirtaé, Saché, Yané and I followed Queen Amidala down to the Wardrobe room immediately after lunch. Wicaté was waiting for us with a veritable army of seamstresses, artists, and maids. She was armed to the teeth with scissors, needles, thread of all color, sketch pads, measuring tape, and pins.

"Your highness," Wicaté said politely, giving a half-bow that had Eirtaé repressing a loud sigh and giving a half-hearted glare in her direction.

After three months of trying to convince all thirteen of us of the importance of ceremony and etiquette, she was slowly losing will power. Practically everyone ignored everything she said and a few of the more irritable ones purposely went out of their way to do the exact opposite of what she wanted. The only people who even pretended to listen to her were the Queen, Rabé, Yané, Saché (on occasion) and me.

The Queen actually did take what Eirtaé said to heart. However, it was only with much persuasion on my part (I had a feeling that it would be easier to humor her than to try to ignore her) that the other girls listened at all. While Rabé admitted that some of it was useful, she thought that the majority of it was ridiculous ("Why do we have to learn to walk in perfect unison, Eirtaé? No one's going to notice if one of us is a half a second off," she had said reasonably when Eirtaé had went on one of her etiquette rampages) and Yané thought the entire exercise was pointless and only listened to humor me ("I guess you have a point about trying to keep the peace. But really, Sabé, did you know that the rules of etiquette change roughly every twenty years? I just don't see the point in trying to learn something that's constantly changing and proving that it's not important enough to stand the test of time. I'd rather learn about physics," Yané had told me when I tried to talk to her after she and Eirtaé had a huge argument about the Importance of the Proper Usage of a Ceremonial Fan). Saché, who had idolized me ever since I'd stood up to Panaka, bluntly admitted that the only reason she even pretended to listen was so that she didn't disappoint me.

"Hello Wicaté," Amidala said with a benign smile. "I'm here for my fitting."

"Finally," Wicaté added with a roll of her eyes. "Now, if you'll just stand here," she indicated a stool, "I'll take your measurements and then we can move on to the more interesting things."

And so, it began.

I watched with perhaps too much glee as Amidala went through everything I had for the past three months, only with the addition of a million and one sketches for her to look through and comment on, seamstresses practically creating dresses on her and a huge tour of the entire Wardrobe room where she was shown every dress, accessory and everything else in there while Wicaté practically begged her to throw out over half of them and never let them see the light of day ever again.

8 o'clock rolled around, and Amidala, looking weary and obviously trying very hard to hold on to her patience, was still being fitted. 8:30 came. The seamstresses had left, but Wicaté was still showing the Queen sketch after sketch and asking for her opinions and suggestions. 9:00 came. Amidala, while outwardly calm, had flashing eyes and Rabé was readying herself to move forward in case the Queen lost her temper. 9:15 past and Rabé began chattering about the beautiful private gardens the palace had and how it was such a shame that we never really got a chance to enjoy them while Amidala's fists were tightly clenched under the table. Wicaté was rummaging around for fabrics for Amidala to compare and give her opinion on.

"Panaka is going to murder us for missing a practice session," Yané murmured to me.

"There's that particularly pretty garden, by the waterfall cliffs. You do know which one I'm talking about, don't you, milady? The really gorgeous one with the lawn and the thick stone railings encircling it…" Rabé prompted.

"Yes, I know the one," Amidala responded, her voice tight. "It has really beautiful vines twining around all of the railings and the Winanen flowers."

"Yes, that's the one. Anyway, I was just thinking about how lovely it would be to have a picnic there one day," Rabé continued, sounding almost wistful. "I love picnics. I used to have them at…"

"Panaka can't kill us," I whispered in reply. "We're with the Queen, just like we're supposed to be."

"At this point, I almost wish someone would murder me. This is just awful," muttered Saché grumpily.

"It's important," Eirtaé said, even though she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than us. "How is the Queen's wardrobe supposed to be made if we don't have fitting sessions?"

"This isn't a fitting session," Saché grumbled. "It's torture. You know," she added thoughtfully, "If we ever decide to go dark side, we could use this as the torture chamber. Bet you anything that, after an hour of this, our prisoners would be ready to tell us anything, do anything, give us anything just to make it stop."

I stifled a laugh, and worked even harder to keep a straight face as Amidala briefly sent us a half-amused half-tortured look, clearly having heard Saché's last comment.

"Just don't let Wicaté hear you say that," Yané quietly advised. "She might try to behead you for speaking such heresy."

"Try to?" I said wryly. "I have no doubt that she'd be completely successful. She's terrifying like that. Probably wouldn't even get caught, either."

Just then, there was a sharp rap on the door.

We all exchanged glances and then Yané walked over and opened it. Panaka was standing in the doorway, looking furious.

"May I help you?" Yané asked, giving the response Amidala had asked us to give whenever anyone knocked to see her.

"You're still here?" Panaka demanded, looking furious and dumbfounded.

"May we help you?" Saché repeated, coming to stand at the doorway when Yané looked like she was going to move.

Panaka glared. "You were supposed to be down at the practice room over an hour ago."

"It's our duty to stay with the Queen," Eirtaé said regally as she joined Yané and Saché blocking the door.

It was, I thought wryly, really sad when we were so bored that we had to entertain ourselves by angering Panaka, which, really, was far too easy.

"May we help you?" All three of them asked in unison.

"That sounds really lovely, Rabé," Amidala's voice sounded marginally calmer.

"It was really splendid, your highness. You know, we should have a picnic sometime. On a nice day, for our lunch," Rabé suggested, sounding delighted.

"In that one garden you were talking of," Amidala agreed, pleased. "That's an excellent idea."

"Girls, this isn't funny. It's childish and immature," said Panaka stiffly.

"May we help you?" they repeated sternly.

Panaka let out a look suffering sigh. "Captain Panaka, here to see the Queen, regarding her handmaidens."

"Thank you. One moment please." Saché gave the captain an angelic smile and shut the door in his face.

She walked over to where Rabé and Amidala were now animatedly talking about our upcoming picnic.

"Your highness, Captain Panaka is here to see you, regarding your handmaidens," Saché announced very formally, with a low, low bow.

Amidala's eyes lightened a bit. "Let him in."

"Of course, your highness," Saché bowed again, before slowly turning around and gliding back to the door.

Eirtaé and Yané stood off the side and we all watched in amusement as Saché opened the door to reveal Panaka's crossed arm and impatient expression.

"The Queen is ready to see you now," murmured Saché, the picture of politeness.

"I'll bet," Panaka muttered darkly, as he stormed past us and into the Wardrobe room.

"Alright, your highness, I got it!" Wicaté announced cheerfully, appearing from one of the closets completely loaded down with fabrics. Amidala's face fell. "Here, this," Wicaté swung a beautiful piece of black fabric toward the Queen, "is black woven silk made by—"  
"Your highness, why are you not in bed?" Panaka interrupted.

Wicaté sent him a murderous look. "Because she is here. She is still having her fitting."

"Didn't that start three hours ago?" Panaka demanded.

"What's your point?" Wicaté snapped. "The Queen needs to finish her fitting!"

"The Queen needs to go to sleep! And her handmaidens need to train!" retorted Panaka.

"The Queen is right here!" Amidala exploded.

"Your highness," Rabé began soothingly.

"Don't 'your highness' me, Rabé! I am sick of being talked about as if I am not here! I am sick of being ignored! I am sick of being treated like a, a thing instead of a person! I am just sick of it!" Amidala shouted, rising to her feet so fast she knocked her chair over. This had clearly been a long time coming

Panaka froze. Wicaté dropped her precious fabrics to the floor. Rabé stopped talking about the garden and the picnic. Saché's mouth had fallen open and Eirtaé halted mid-step.

"Believe it or not, I am a person! A real live, honest-to-goodness person! I have feelings and thoughts, and Wicaté, I couldn't care less what fabric you use! You are utterly brilliant! Everything you've made using Sabé has been brilliant and wonderful and amazing! You don't need me here! I don't want to be here! I don't want to see a million and one fabrics and look over a thousand sketches! And I don't—" Amidala stopped mid-sentence, breathing heavily.

Everything was quiet. Amidala took a deep, shuddering breath and blinked rapidly.

"Told you these fitting sessions could be used as torture," Saché half-heartedly joked, probably only to break the silence.

"They really aren't that bad," Wicaté protested vaguely, her eyes still focused firmly on the Queen.

Everyone fell quiet again. Amidala squeezing her eyes shut tightly, her hands clenched into fists.

This couldn't stay like this, I thought desperately. The poor queen didn't deserve to have a mental break-down in front of her captain of the guard and her obsessive stylist. She really didn't need to have a break down in front of Rabé, Saché, Eirtaé, Yané and I either, but…

I swept into a deep bow, wincing as I began to act just the way the Queen had yelled for us not to because it seemed she could not do it herself. "Excuse us, Handmaiden Wicaté, Captain Panaka. I'm afraid this session is over for the day. Eirtaé, could you ask the secretaries for the Queen's first meetings tomorrow to be postponed?" I sent Eirtaé a pleading look, silently begging her not to go off a tangent about protocol and etiquette and how I had no right to clear out the Queen's schedule.

Instead, she just met my gaze, her blue eyes worried, and gave one sharp nod.

"Of course." She bowed to the Queen and left.

"Saché, could you tell the Guard Detail that we won't need them for tonight or tomorrow morning?" I asked.

Saché, looking unusually young, nodded furiously and practically ran out the door.

"Captain Panaka," I quickly continued, noticing the man's outraged look, "The palace is completely secure and we will be staying with her. You needn't worry about her safety; we'll all be fine. I promise." I met his gaze directly, willing him to understand and let us be.

"Is that alright with you, your highness?" Panaka asked, turning to the now shaking Queen.

Amidala gave one tight nod, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"Then it will be done, milady," he announced.

"Thank you." I nodded at him, expecting him to leave.

He didn't. He stayed right where he was, watching me with a curious expression on his face. I raised my eyebrows and then glanced at the door. He looked a little startled, but bowed to the Queen.

"I'll take my leave, milady." He swiftly turned on heel and left.

"One word, Wicaté," I scowled at the girl. "One word of this to anyone and I swear on my parents' graves that I will make your life a misery. Understood?"

She looked startled, but nodded wordlessly before turning on heel and scurrying into a closet.

I gave Rabé a desperate look, pleading her to help the queen.

Her face was white beneath its tan, but she nodded and cautiously stepped toward the Queen.

"Your highness?" Rabé prompted gently.

Amidala just took another shaking breath.

"Your highness, come on," she pleaded. "Please. We're not going far. We're just leaving the Wardrobe room for your rooms."

Amidala's eyes flew open and she inexplicably reminded me of a trapped animal.

"No," I suddenly said. "No, we're not. Yané," I turned to the little girl who looked like she might start crying herself, "Do you know of any other open, clean rooms where we'd all fit comfortably? Preferably ones with windows?"

"I—" Yané's brow furrowed as she shook her head. "No. No, but I can find out! I can just go and talk to the head housekeeper—she knows me, I introduced myself the first day and she's always answered all of my questions and—"

"Good," I said soothingly, hoping to get her to calm down. "Can you just hurry and ask her, casually mind you, about any rooms like that and then come back down to the—" I desperately wracked my mind for a room, "Well, can you comm me the location? Then, just meet Eirtaé and Saché back in the Queen's quarters and let them know where we are. Okay? Can you do that?"

"Yes," Yané nodded furiously. "I can do that!" And then she sprinted off.

"Is that better?" Rabé asked softly, gently grabbing the queen by the arm.

Amidala was breathing harshly and once again blinking rapidly, but managed a sharp nod.

"Okay, then come on," I said, sweeping over to the door. I quickly opened it and looked around. The coast was clear. I waved Rabé and Amidala over to me.

We continued down the halls that way, me peeking around the corner to see if anyone was coming and then letting Rabé and Amidala know if they should keep coming or stay where they were. Finally, just before we reached the tiny little meeting room I was headed for, Yané commed me.

"Sabé? There's not really any suites clean that are big enough for all of us. But, there is one that can fit four if you squeeze a little. It's on the fifth floor in the east wing." Yané proceeded to give me directions, "But there's no way we'll all be able to fit in there comfortably. We'd practicably be sleeping on top of each other."

"Okay, um," I rubbed a hand over my face. "Then can you go back to the Queen's rooms and have—" I turned to look at Rabé, hoping she'd have some sort an idea as to what to do now.

Rabé bit her lip, keeping her hand resting gently behind the Queen's elbow.

"Eirtaé?" she mouthed, with a shrug.

After a moment, I nodded my agreement. Eirtaé, for all her faults, was steady and solid and completely predictable, which I always thought was comforting.

"Have Eirtaé come to the fifth floor room, alright? And would you and Saché come up with some sort of explanation for the other girls that would explain all of this without telling what actually happened?" I asked, trying to make sure that Yané and Saché wouldn't feel like they were being snubbed. "You're so much better at coming up with realistic lies, and Saché's excellent at distracting people from the main point."

"Sure Sabé, I can do that," Yané agreed. I could almost see her nodding furiously at me.

"Thank you," I said. And then, Rabé, the Queen, and I made our way to the suite.

Finally, we reached the rooms Yané had told us about. I opened the door and Rabé led the Queen in and then over to a large couch that faced a huge, wide window that looked out over the cliffs.

I quickly did a scan of the tiny quarters like Panaka had taught us.

"Alright, we're all clear." I sighed, "I'm sorry about that, your highness, taking control and all that, but I figured that, if you're going to have a breakdown, you probably wouldn't want everyone to see it." I plopped down next to her on the couch.

Amidala let out a hysterical laugh that quickly turned into a sob. Amidala's hand flew to cover her mouth, but it seemed like she couldn't hold it any longer as tears began to stream down her face.

"I—I'm so—so sorry!" she hiccupped, still trying to stop herself. "I—it' s just been a, a real—really long day and—"

"Shh, it's okay," Rabé murmured, rubbing Amidala's back. "It's okay…"

And Amidala completely broke down, sobbing and curling up into a little ball. Rabé hugged the girl, who, for the first time, seemed like she was only fourteen years old.

And so, I sat there awkwardly, watching as Rabé murmured soft, soothing things while Padmé Amidala, Queen of the Naboo, cried.


	8. Change

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but, finally, Amidala's cries softened and then stopped.

"Okay, I got toothbrushes, hairbrushes, nightgowns, and three handmaiden dresses. Sabé, I grabbed one of yours for Queen Amidala because of how similar you are in size. We all look like her anyway, so no one should question her being a handmaiden tomorrow morning. Also, your highness, you're now completely free all day, although it took forever for me to convince the secretaries that it wouldn't be the end of the world if you took a day off once in a while. Oh, and I got a whole bunch of chocolate from the kitchens for us to pig out on," Eirtaé announced as the door closed behind her.

She paused for a moment when she saw the three of us sitting on the couch, Queen Amidala huddling in toward Rabé, who was still hugging her. However, after only half a second she continued on as if nothing were out of the ordinary. I could have kissed her.

"Here we go," she finished, dumping the clothes on the floor and then the toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and chocolate on the table in front of the couch. Amidala gave her a watery smile and pushed herself up into a sitting position, while Rabé watched anxiously.

"Thank you. And I'm so sorry. You all must think I'm a horrible queen for breaking down like that. It's just—" For a moment, I thought she might start crying again but Eirtaé, of all people, interrupted her.

"Hush, Highness. That's not the proper procedure. Etiquette dictates that we eat the chocolate and dish about cute boys first, before bashing everyone we know and whining about our lives. Apologies are completely inappropriate in this situation," Eirtaé said briskly, startling a laugh out of the Queen.

"Is it okay if we break etiquette a little and get all that white gunk off the Queen's face and get that headdress off? And when do we change into our nightgowns?" I asked, giving Eirtaé a grateful smile for setting a lighter tone.

"Oh, I suppose we can break procedure just this once," Eirtaé agreed with a long suffering tone. "We can clean you all up, your highness, and then get ready for bed before dishing and pigging out, if that's okay."

Amidala gave another watery smile. "That sounds fine." She paused. "And—and thank you. All of you."

This, finally, I knew what to say to. I gave her a grin. "What are handmaidens for? But I call fresher first!"

And then I ran off toward where I knew it was. I heard footsteps pounding behind me.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Rabé shouted. "You're the only one who knows where it is!"

"And you got head start!" Eirtaé hollered, sounding a little peeved.

"Losers!" I sang as I slammed the door to the fresher shut behind me. I heard the Queen laugh.

After much ado about nothing, the four of us were ready for bed, the queen's hair finally loose and down her back and her face no longer white and tear-streaked. We all trekked back toward the main room with the huge window and the chocolate pile.

"Do—do you want to do this sleepover style?" Rabé asked, sounding hopeful when we reached the main room again.

"What do you mean?" The Queen asked, looking politely bewildered.

"Yeah," I echoed. "What's 'sleepover-style'?"

"You've never—" Rabé's eyes widened in shock. "You've never had a sleepover?"

The Queen and I exchanged looks. "No," we responded in unison.

"That settles it then," Eirtaé said decisively. "Everyone, grab some blankets and pillows and meet back here."

Once we did that, and Eirtaé and Rabé showed us the proper way to set up a sleepover, we all sat on the floor surrounding the table and began to eat chocolate and talk about even sillier nonsense then we usually did every night.

"Oh come on," Rabé giggled. "You can't honestly say that you think Wilfred Greeta's bad looking, Eirtaé!"

"He is," Eirtaé said staunchly. "He looks like a bantha. And he hasn't got a lick of sense."

"That's not true!" Rabé protested. "His eyes are gorgeous and he's got such thick hair. C'mon Sabé, back me up here!" she entreated me.

I grinned. "Sorry, Rabé, but I got to agree with Eirtaé on this one. Have you ever seen him when someone asks him a question? He's always like-" I put on my best Wilfred look, slack jawed, and wide-eyed. "Uh, I, uh, that, uh, what did, uh, you say? I, uh, think, uh, I'm not sure I, uh," I imitated his low, slow voice as Eirtaé and Queen Amidala practically fell over laughing. Even Rabé couldn't help letting a few giggles through.

"Oh come on," she protested through her snickers. "He's not that bad! Back me up, your highness! Please!"

Amidala giggled. "I can't; Sabé and Eirtaé are right! He's slow and he looks like a bantha! But," here, though her eyes were sparkling, she looked a little more serious, "It's just Padmé. Really. At least when it's just us."

There was a small pause, and we all exchanged looks. Eirtaé's smile had faded a little and she looked worried. I just grinned and shrugged. Rabé positively beamed.

"Only if you back me up!" she bargained with a wide grin. "Only if you help me convince these two bantha-heads that Wilfred is gorgeous!"

"Oh come on," Eirtaé drawled after a small pause, her eyes looking uncertain even as she smiled widely. "That's such blackmail, Rabé. Stick with us, Padmé; we won't try to bribe you."

"I don't know," I said, mock thoughtfully. "I mean, blackmail could come in handy… How about this: I'll call you Padmé if you swear you won't make me go back to the torture chamber any more than twice a week, although, even if you agree, I'm still entitled to my revenge for you sticking me with her for so long," I added, shaking my spoon at her.

"Ohhh, that's a good one," Rabé admired with a wide grin.

Padmé laughed again, looking positively delighted, "It's a deal," she agreed, grinning widely as she swung a hand out toward me.

"Excellent, Padmé!" I beamed, as we shook on it. "I knew I liked you for a reason!"

Padmé laughed. "If I knew all I had to do to make friends was keep them from seeing Wicaté too often, I would have done it ages ago!" Then, her smile faded a little and she looked uncertain. "We—we are friends, aren't we?"

Suddenly, Eirtaé's face lit up, like she'd just had some sort of revelation. The worry disappeared and her grin became real.

"Hmm…" She sarcastically tapped her fingers against her chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "I don't know… Rabé, Sabé, what do you say? Are we friends with Padmé?"

Rabé grinned madly. "Of course we are! Stop being such a bantha-head, Eirtaé!" she companionably bumped into Padmé's shoulder.

"Well, I certainly like her more than I like you, Eirtaé, so…" I joked, my eyes sparkling.

"Hey!" Eirtaé protested, throwing a pillow at my head. "I brought you chocolate! You have to like me! It's in the contract!"

"What contract? I didn't sign anything," I retorted, still grinning widely.

"It's implied," Eirtaé said snobbishly. "Anyone who's anybody knows that accepting chocolate and having a sleepover with someone is implying that you have to like them. Honestly, Sabé, don't you know anything?"

"They aren't always like this, are they?" Padmé asked Rabé with dancing eyes.

"No, they never are," replied Rabé with wide-eyes.

"Hey, Padmé, now that it's official that we're friends," I began, changing the subject before it could get strange and awkward, "I've got a question for you."

"Okay, what?" Padmé asked, looking intrigued.

"How on earth do you not trip in those dresses Wicaté makes you wear? Whenever she had me try them on and walk around, I was constantly falling down and tripping and ramming into things," I explained.

Padmé laughed, sounding delighted. "Practice. When I was a junior legislator, one of our instructors actually sat us all down and taught us how to properly walk in a dress. Here," she stood up and waved me over. "It's like this…"

And she demonstrated. And I tried to imitate her.

And we laughed a lot and we talked and we didn't fall asleep until the sun was coming up.


	9. Picnic

"You know," Saché announced leaning back onto the grass and soaking up the sun, "I think we should do this regularly. Come out here every day it's not raining."

"Mmm," Eirtaé agreed from where she was laying on part of the thick stone railing surrounding the waterfall garden.

"Did you know that sunlight increases your endorphins, which are hormones in your body that make you happy?" Yané announced, looking up from the book she was reading while lying on the ground.

"We do now," Padmé smiled, looking up from braiding Rabé's hair.

It was three weeks after Padmé, Eirtaé, Rabé, and I had had our 'sleepover' and we had just finished eating our first picnic. After Padmé's breakdown, the six of us had gotten together and discussed some changes to be made. After arguing with Padmé for at least three hours, we convinced her to decrease her hours to 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening with an hour and a half break for lunch and one day off a week.

With our new, much longer lunch break, we had decided to take the suggestion Rabé had made while trying to calm the Queen down. We were on our very first picnic, eating in a slightly different garden than Rabé had suggested, one that Queen Amidala had found. It was located at the very edge of the Palace property, with three-quarters of the garden surrounded by tall, thickly leaved trees. Inside the tree ring was a thick stone railing that completely encircled the garden. That railing was the only thing that separated the final fourth of the garden from the 3,000 foot or more drop down the side of a cliff into a lake. And that was the most interesting part.

"I'm ready," I announced.

"Are you finally going to tell us what your ridiculousness with swinging on and off that railing over there is about?" Eirtaé asked sleepily, raising her hand to shade her eyes as she looked at me.

"You'll see," I grinned, practically bouncing across the garden toward the cliff.

"What are you doing?" Yané asked curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen you this excited."

"Haven't had anything to be this excited about," I explained over my shoulder, as I reached the railing blocking the garden off from the cliff.

"Sabé, what are you doing?" asked Padmé suspiciously. "You aren't about to do something really stupid, are you?"

"She wouldn't," Rabé quickly reassured the Queen. "Sabé's not one for doing stupid things." But then she paused uncertainly. "Right?"

"Well," I replied, glancing at the wide stone top and trying to shake the rail to see how stable it was, "That really all depends on what you consider stupid."

Seeing that this part of the rail was just as sturdy as the part that I'd been practicing on, I grabbed a firm hold of the edge nearest me and the edge farthest from me, and stood up on the bottom part of the rail.

"Sabé, I don't think that's a good idea," Padmé warned me anxiously.

Testing my weight for just a moment, I quickly swung one leg over the side of the rail and sat, straddling it for just a second. The other girls screamed.

"What are you doing?"

"Get off of that!"

"I consider that stupid!"

"Don't even think about it, Sabé!"

"Relax all of you, would you? I'm not going to fall. That's why I practiced," I explained, rolling my eyes at them as I moved both hands to grip the ledge closest to the garden before swinging my other leg over. I was now sitting facing the cliff with my legs swinging in the thousand foot drop. I settled myself in, so that my butt to my knees was firmly seated on the rail and I kept my hands gripping the ledge closest to the garden.

"See?" I told them, glancing over my shoulder to see all of them looking at me in horror. "Perfectly safe."

"Sabé," Rabé said, her voice shaking a little, "I'm starting to think your idea of safe and my idea of safe are two completely different things."

"She's not firing on all thrusters," Yané breathed, sounding shocked.

"Oh for… Yané, I'm not insane. I promise," I told her, rolling my eyes. "I just like heights."

"Insane," Yané repeated softly.

I ignored her and looked out across the vast emptiness that lay in front of me, at the huge lake that stretched as far I could see, with waterfalls pounding into it on either side of our garden. It was beautiful and calm and I finally, finally felt at peace. Eventually, after ignoring several more loud protests from my fellow picnickers, they all resumed their own activities allowing me to simply be.

"Your highness!" Panaka's sharp voice called, breaking me out of my reverie.

I nearly groaned.

"Yes, Captain?" Queen Amidala asked, her voice cool and noble.

"I—Get off that railing before you fall to your death!" Panaka suddenly snapped, his voice tighter and bossier than usual.

I sighed softly and let myself enjoy swinging my feet for a little longer.

"Now!" Panaka barked.

"Fine," I sighed, slowly repeating the same process I used to get on, only opposite.

I got back to solid ground with absolutely no difficulties, just as I knew I would.

"Yes, Captain?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as I strolled farther away from freedom toward where Rabé and Padmé were sitting, Rabé's hair now simply bursting with braids. I grudgingly sat down next to them.

"I wished to talk to all of you about a new idea I had concerning security. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about it now, your highness. This is probably the most private place in the palace and I want to make sure that no one finds out about this except the seven of us," Panaka announced after giving a sharp, quick bow to the Queen.

"Of course, Captain," Amidala graciously agreed. "Please, have a seat," she said, waving at the grass covered garden.

Panaka tried to hide a grimace as he reluctantly sat down on the ground, facing Padmé, Rabé and me.

"Excuse me for asking, Captain, but why is this is the most private part of the palace? We're outside, so there are plenty of places for an eavesdropper to hide," Yané asked with a frown.

"While that is correct, Yané," Panaka began tolerantly (he and Padmé were one of the few people who had patience for all of Yané's questions). "It's also incorrect. While we are outside and there are plenty of places to hide, in order to get down here you must completely bypass all of the palace security, as well as make it pass the extra security that is in place due to the Queen's presence here. And, finally, even if someone were to get pass all of that, there is only one way into this garden, and that way involves opening a secret passageway, finding the proper way through a hedge maze, going through a tunnel and then going through one more secret passage. Furthermore, this garden can't be seen from anywhere in Naboo including the palace, unless, of course," here, Panaka scowled at me, "they are on the lake and happen to see some fool handmaiden sitting on the stone railing. Since we get very few boaters on this lake and even fewer foolish handmaidens, added with the fact that this garden isn't in any of the palace blue-prints, there is virtually no chance of any enemy finding their way here. Bugs also won't work here, because its position makes it impossible for anyone to get any sort of signal from here."

"Oh," Yané replied. "I didn't realize how secret of a place this was."

Panaka nodded in Yané's direction, but then turned back to the Queen. "Your highness, for quite some time, I've been thinking about what changes we can make in security to ensure your safety should anyone ever try to kill you. While you obviously know about the changes that have been made to palace security and the tightening of your own personal guard, I fear that this will not be enough. So, after much thought, I've come up with another idea. The idea of a decoy."

And, with that, Panaka went on to explain his idea. How, in times of great stress, there would be a girl, similar to the Queen in looks and taught her mannerisms, to pretend to be the queen. The Queen herself would be nearby in order to give the decoy hidden signals, saying what the decoy was to do. In this way, the Queen would no longer be the center of attention and all the danger would instead switch to the decoy, ensuring the Queen's safety.

We all listened with rapt attention, about how the complicated ceremonial clothes and make-up wore by the Queen would hide the differences between the Queen and the Decoy more effectively than almost anything else could all without being the slightest bit suspicious.

"Brilliant," Yané breathed when Panaka finished.

"But where would we find the girl?" The Queen asked after a moment's silence.

"Well, your highness," here, Panaka's eyes darted off to the side before meeting Queen Amidala's again, "That was why I didn't say anything until now. But, after talking to Wicaté and some others, I think I've found her." Here, he turned to look at me and a cold pit suddenly formed in my stomach. "Sabé, would you be the Queen's decoy?"

"Sabé?" Queen Amidala asked sharply. "Why Sabé?"

"As Wicaté pointed out after your fitting, your highness, you and Sabé are almost exactly the same size, have the same face shape, eye shape and other physical features. The bulky clothes and make-up should cover whatever differences there are. Also, the Matron of Sabé's orphanage," here the girls gave me startled looks as I had never mentioned the orphanage to them, "said that she has a gift for mimicry. Madame Winn of the Academy said that Sabé was a quick learner and I have seen for myself that she is able to keep a cool head in stressful situations as well as handle herself with dignity and poise. Finally, she has already pledged her life for you, your highness. There would be no question of her loyalty. You can take her place as a handmaiden and therefore be near her at all times without attracting any suspicion," Panaka replied. "She is perfect."

And, I thought with a sick sort of a realization, I was.

"Thank you Captain," Queen Amidala said. "But, should a time come when my life is in danger, I will not allow someone else to take my place while I hide like a coward."

"Milady," I began slowly, trying to make my whirling thoughts coherent. "It would not be the actions of a coward. You are important. To the people and to the planet. You are too important to die while I am not. Should we ever be placed in a situation where your life is in danger, Naboo would probably be facing some sort of crisis. We would not be able to afford losing you. Captain Panaka's idea is the only way to ensure that that doesn't happen, while letting you continue to rule from the palace without having to go into hiding."

"I will not risk another's life to save my own," Amidala said stubbornly.

"Your highness, your life is more important than any of ours. It's a risk we'd gladly take," Eirtaé pressed.

"No," Amidala frowned.

We spent the next two weeks pleading with her, and begging her to see reason and slowly, reluctantly, she began to agree with us.

Three weeks later, I began my training as Queen Amidala's decoy.


	10. Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, since it becomes relevant this chapter: This is an AU. Like, this particular story is not majorly AU, but there are tiny AU bits. So if you see something and are like, 'wait a second, that didn't happen in the movie' you're probably right and it didn't. That would be the alternate universe creeping in :)

"Are you sure about this, Sabé? It's—you don't have to do this," Padmé whispered, her face white and anxious.

I gave her a trembling smile, trying to reassure her.

We had spent months planning for this, preparing for exactly this eventuality. I had spent hours perfecting the Queen's walk, mannerisms, and voice. We had spent weeks collaborating on a secret code (after deciding that me simply asking my handmaidens their opinion was too obvious, we had settled on a slightly less obvious code that included a lot of coughing and Padmé being clumsy) and entire days practicing the ruse. Padmé had learned how to shoot a blaster, disarm an opponent, and had gotten herself beaten up by Panaka just as often as we had. She learned to talk like me and walk like me and not draw attention to herself. We, along with Rabé, Saché, Eirtaé, and Yané, had even researched and eventually learned how to obscure our force signatures after I'd woken up one night in a sweat, not remembering anything about my nightmare, but knowing that we had to learn to fool force sensitives. All of that work was coming down to this one moment.

My Queen's life was in danger. I wasn't about to back out now.

"Yes, I do, milady," I told her softly, but firmly. "Now go get changed; we don't have a lot of time."

Padmé gave me one last long, searching look. Whatever she found in my face made her nod and walk swiftly toward the fresher, clutching my handmaiden flame dress.

I turned back around to see Saché, Rabé, Yané and Eirtaé looking at me solemnly.

"Come on, Sabé, we've got to get you dressed," Rabé said gently.

I nodded jerkily and walked over to them in the white underdress and black stockings I'd seen Padmé wear so many times.

"I—Sabé, what goes on next?" Saché asked, her voice shaking.

I walked over to the pile of clothes Wicaté had given me the moment she heard that the Trade Federation had invaded ("Red is not the right color for the Queen right now. The planet has been invaded and her people are dying. She is in mourning. To make the starkness of the Queen's dress more clear, have all the handmaidens wear the flame dresses, which will also symbolize the fire that burns in the heart of the Naboo," Wicaté had instructed, as if she wasn't the slightest bit worried about the fact that the Trade Federation would probably kill the Queen no matter how dramatic her outfit was) and looked through it.

After dressing Queen Amidala for the past eight months, I easily picked out the order they were to be put on without even glancing at Wicaté's instructions.

"Oh," Saché said quietly.

And, silently, she and Yané began to help me get into it. Then, I mutely let Eirtaé put the Queen's white make-up on me and Rabé secure my hair into an intricate braided bun before sliding a black feathered headdress down over my head.

I stood up and slid into the delicate black slippers that had come with the dress.

I looked up and, in the mirror, I met the gaze of Queen Amidala.

"You look just like her," Yané whispered. "No one will ever know the difference."

"Let us hope." Padmé's voice, only higher pitched and less rounded, came from the fresher.

I slowly turned around to see her staring out at me from under a hood, for all the world only one of the Queen's many handmaidens.

"Hey, you look just like me," I joked, giving her a feeble grin.

Padmé laughed sadly. "And you look just like me. Are you ready?"

I nodded resolutely. "Of course, milady. What are your orders?"

"Do not leave Naboo. My place is here, with my people. Do not do anything that will give the Trade Federation any stronger foothold here. Do not give into their demands. Do not start unnecessary fights. Preserve as much life as you can without compromising our situation," Padmé ordered, her voice hard. "And, Sabé? Don't die."

I gave her a faint smile. "I wasn't planning on it."

I didn't think I'd ever been so nervous in my entire life. However, looking at Padmé and the others, and knowing how much everything was counting on me being perfect and giving the performance of a lifetime, I closed my eyes. I would be no good to anyone if I couldn't control my nerves. I took a couple of deep breaths, imagining myself sitting on the stone railing a thousand feet above anything, my feet swinging free. Gathering up those feeling of serenity and safety and rightness, I took one more deep breath and opened my eyes, slipping into the role of Queen Amidala of the Naboo.

"Come. Let us go," I said, my voice as low and as rich as Padmé's was at her most regal.

And then, my head held high, I swept out of the dressing room, letting Eirtaé usher the others into their proper places behind me.

Yané opened the door to the hallways of the palace for me and we saw Captain Panaka waiting for us with a small troop of royal guards.

"Your highness," Panaka bowed.

"Captain," I said. "What is Theed's status?"

"It has been completely overtaken. The droids are in the palace, your highness. They will be up here in minutes," Captain Panaka replied briskly.

"Thank you, Captain," I nodded at him majestically. "Where is the Governor?"

"He is waiting for you in meeting room 22A," answered Panaka.

I nodded shortly and once again took off, heading toward Governor Bibble. This part had been discussed by Amidala, the governor, and her advisors before we had made the switch. As the most important people in Theed, the governor and I were to meet up and we would attempt (and most likely fail—Padme had stood watching the window as troop after troop after troop of droids had marched into Theed unheeded and stoically reported that our capture was almost inevitable) to leave Theed and relocate to another, hopefully less densely occupied, city. From there, we were to attempt negotiations with the Federation as well as try to reach the Senate.

Failing that, there wasn't really much of a plan.

Finally, after walking for what seemed forever but couldn't have been more than two minutes, we reached meeting room 22A. The doors opened and I glided in. Then I stopped dead.

Standing there, guarding Governor Bibble, whose ten guards were lying dead at his feet, were at least fifteen droids.

"This is an outrage!" Governor Bibble blustered, glaring at the droids.

"You're under arrest," a droid told me.

"Lay down your weapons," another mechanic voice ordered. I turned around to see 20 or more droids at our backs, their guns all leveled on my guards.

My guards turned their gazes to Captain Panaka who was showing no sign of letting his weapon go. But there was no way we could win. We would all die, just like Governor Bibble's guards, without putting even a dent in the droids' number.

"Captain," I said sharply, my court voice projecting clearly. "Lay down your weapons."

"But, your highness—" Captain Panaka protested, his gaze slipping to Padmé who was meeting his eyes levelly.

"Lay down your weapons," I repeated, my gaze sharp and unwavering.

Captain Panaka slowly, reluctantly, let his power cell clatter to the floor before dropping his blaster. The rest of my guards followed his lead.

"Enter the room," the first droid, his markings indicating that he was a Commander, ordered.

With as much dignity as I could, I walked forward to allow the rest of my now captured entourage into meeting room 22A.

"What are you going to do with us now?" Governor Bibble demanded, sounding as contrary and impatient as ever.

"Stay here," the droid ordered, completely ignoring Bibble's question "Captain, guard them. I will tell the viceroy."

"Roger, roger," the second droid agreed.

One of my guards swore under his breath. I felt like kicking something really hard but managed to keep my face perfectly blank instead. Under the surface, I was seething.

The Naboo were not solely responsible for the new taxes on the Trade Federation. The Naboo had never even done anything to directly hurt the Federation. We had accepted their blockade and went about dealing with it through all of the proper, legal channels. It was not our fault that the Senate wanted the Federation to come to a diplomatic solution. It was not our fault that they had been ordered to settle. It was definitely not our fault that they somehow lost the Chancellor's ambassadors. We were only trying to protect ourselves and not starve to death.

It was entirely unfair for them to illegally invade us, kill some of us, and then capture our Queen!

"Here, your highness," said Governor Bibble with a small, courtly bow. "Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm sure the Viceroy will be keeping us waiting." Governor Bibble graciously pulled out the chair at the head of the meeting table for me.

"Thank you, Governor," I said gravely, as I gracefully sunk into the proffered seat. I nearly slumped, but stopped myself just in time, sternly reminding myself that the Queen always had perfect posture.

Together, the guards, the handmaidens, the hidden Queen, Governor Bibble, the droids and myself waited in silence. I stared straight ahead, repeating to myself of all the things I needed to do (Sit up straight, Do not slouch, Do not fidget, Look alert, Do not look bored, Do not glare at the droids, Do not speak unless spoken to, Do not look at Padmé, Ignore Saché's anxious glances, Ignore the swearing guards, Ignore Panaka's glares, Look regal, Don't…)

After what could have been a lifetime, the Viceroy and another Neimoidian walked into the meeting room.

"Your highness. Governor." The Viceroy acknowledged us in a slippery, mockingly polite tone.

I looked up at him and met his gaze squarely. He could not do the same and quickly looked at Governor Bibble.

"We have many things to discuss. Governor, your Highness, if you and your guards would please come walk with me, it would be much appreciated," Viceroy Nute Gunray continued in that same slippery way. "Captain, follow us with four of your best droids," he ordered the droid Captain.

"Roger, roger," the droid Captain affirmed.

"Your highness," Governor Bibble bowed to me again as I stood up from the chair as elegantly as I could. Together, we walked forward toward the Viceroy and began to leave the room. The handmaidens, Panaka, and his men fell in behind us while the droids surrounded us, holding their guns across their chests.

I briefly watched with a flicker of amusement as Eirtaé and Panaka had a staring contest over who would follow directly behind the Governor and myself, in line with the other Neimoidian. Panaka, much to Eirtaé's obvious displeasure, won.

The Viceroy fell in line with the Governor and I walked a single step ahead of them, keeping my face blank and looking straight ahead as we left meeting room 22A. We continued past the lake mural in silence and began to descend the stairs, passing the droids who were stationed there.

I kept the silence, refusing to give the Viceroy the satisfaction of making me speak, while simultaneously avoiding more chances for someone to realize that I wasn't really the Queen, just a handmaiden pretending.

Unfortunately, Governor Bibble hadn't caught onto the plan.

"How will you explain this invasion to the Senate?" he asked.

Silently, I cursed him.

"The Queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize our occupation here. I've been assured it will be ratified by the Senate," Viceroy Gunray answered, still sounding impossibly polite.

Since I had been mentioned and the Viceroy had assumed I would do something that would go directly against the true Queen's orders, I figured I had to say something. Stifling my urge to kill both Bibble and Gunray, I quickly cast my mind around for something to say.

"I will not cooperate," I responded, doing my best to sound firm and calm. I wasn't really sure how well I succeeded, but, I thought optimistically, at least I didn't sound terrified or furious, which was something.

"Now, now, your Highness. In time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view." I could feel the Viceroy looking at me as he casually made this threat.

I stubbornly refused to look at him in what Eirtaé had assured us, just last week, was an insult of the highest degree. For once, I fervently hoped that everyone around us was familiar with the etiquette of Naboo. The more I could insult people without saying anything or appearing outwardly rude, the happier I'd be.

Unfortunately, by looking straight ahead, I also noticed the droid heading right toward us.

"Commander." Gunray also noticed the droid.

"Yes sir?" It was the same droid from upstairs

"Process them." And for the first time, he sounded cruel.

Had I been merely Sabé instead of the Queen, I would have sent them all very dirty looks to show that I wasn't afraid. As it was, I just kept walking.


	11. Jedi

I didn't know how Padmé did it. The longer I walked the awful, silent way to Camp Four, the more I admired her.

The dress was heavy. The shoes hurt. Everyone was walking really fast and, somehow, I had to keep up with them while still looking dignified. It was practically impossible. I was concentrating more on walking than I had since I first learned how.

And the part of my brain that wasn't concentrating on moving one foot in front of the other under the awful, heavy, hot dress, was trying to convince my head that no, falling backwards because of the irritatingly heavy feathers attached to the back of my head was not a good idea, thank you very much. Oh, and I was trying to act Queenly and fool the entire world, including the Governor of Theed, into thinking that I was Queen Amidala, really, and that they actually shouldn't be paying any attention to that strangely Amidala like girl who was following me around.

I thought I might have a panic attack if things got any more difficult, which really didn't bode well for my future as decoy seeing as all I was doing right then was walking. I had a bad feeling that this entire ruse was going to end in disaster.

After nearly tripping on a crack in the ground (only my thick, heavy skirts saved me from disaster, by making the trip appear like only an overly enthusiastic step), I stopped looking ahead in a dignified manner and instead focused my gaze firmly on the pavement in front of me.

Which was why, as opposed to remaining composed and calm, I stopped dead in my tracks when three things came tumbling off of a balcony right in front of us. My only comfort was that Governor Bibble froze too.

I watched in amazement as two of them quickly revealed themselves to be Jedi Knights (instead of dead bodies, which was what my first, horrified thought had been), as they ignited their lightsabers. I struggled to keep my face free of awe as I watched them attack the droids guarding us. It was almost like watching a dance, how gracefully and swiftly they destroyed all the droids. I felt a shock of envy but quickly pressed it down. The Queen would not be envious of someone's fighting ability. That was handmaiden territory.

"We should leave the streets, your highness," a tall, human Jedi with long hair announced, waving off to the side.

No kidding, I thought drily as Governor Bibble put a surprisingly comforting hand on my shoulder and ushered me away. I heard Eirtaé, Rabé, Saché, Padmé and Yané's comforting footsteps right behind me.

"Get their weapons," Panaka ordered the Queen's other protectors.

A small part of me felt smug: the handmaidens hadn't needed to reclaim any weapons because they'd never given theirs up to begin with. Hidden inside each of their dresses was a small hand blaster that had never left their sides. It was one of the clever ideas Wicaté had come up with when redoing our entire wardrobes. Not only were we now wearing the height of fashion in shapeless, hooded cloaks, all of our dresses also contained concealed pockets for our weapons.

The moment we reached a small alcove between two buildings, the long-haired Jedi began to explain himself.

"We're ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor."

"Your negotiations seemed to have failed, Ambassador," Bibble said cuttingly, finally returning to his usual blustery self.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Panaka cut past the handmaidens to arrive at my side. I felt like laughing.

"The negotiations never took place," the Jedi retorted and my urge to laugh died immediately. "It is urgent that we contact the Republic."

Good luck with that, I thought wryly as the Governor and I exchanged glances. I'm sure Padmé would have known almost immediately what Bibble was thinking from his expression, but, as I had no clue, I settled for looking at him solemnly in a dignified manner. I really hoped that would cover all my bases.

Never one for beating around the bush, Panaka quickly replied, "They've knocked down all our communications."

"Do you have transports?" the Jedi asked, wasting no time mourning what couldn't be.

I decided then and there that I liked him, this strange, tall Jedi with the kind eyes.

"In the main hanger. This way," answered Panaka, gesturing in the hanger's direction.

I could have cried. We had to walk more.

Gathering up my energy and will power, I leaned forward and moved those heavy skirts. Governor Bibble, perhaps noticing my distress, perhaps simply being a gentleman (which was more likely, as Governor Bibble held chivalry in very high esteem while his observational skills were practically nonexistent), he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped pulled me forward as Panaka fell in behind me. This, of course, conveniently kept him closer to the real Queen while appearing as though he was still guarding me. I silently applauded his deviousness as we hurried toward the main hanger.

By the time we reached it, I was feeling totally pooped out. I was in really good shape: I practiced hand-to-hand combat every day, ran at least twice a day, and followed a really strict exercise regimen. But none of it had quite managed to prepare me for the reality of running around in little dainty, decorative slippers, with 12 different skirts on, while wearing a two or more pound headdress.

I hurried to stand next to the Jedi while Bibble stayed with Panaka. As I quickly crossed the open door of the hanger, I caught a glimpse inside it and what I saw terrified me.

It was completely full of droids. I subtly glanced at the two Jedi out of the corner of my eye. They were both humans wearing brown cloaks over tan tunics and leggings. The one that had been talking towered over everyone in the room and had long, greying brown hair. For some reason, he seemed to give off waves of tranquility as if he was completely in control and already knew that everything would end up fine. In contrast, the second Jedi was probably shorter than Panaka by an inch or so, had short hair that could have been blond, or brown or even red and seemed to radiate tightly controlled energy. While both of them were obviously gifted warriors, I didn't think the two of them alone would be able to take over the main hanger.

Panaka clearly agreed. "There are too many of them." He sounded frustrated.

"That won't be a problem," the tall Jedi stated, completely confident.

I wasn't, so much. There were about two hundred droids in there, all armed and ready to go. We had two Jedi, six volunteer bodyguards, four handmaidens who were under strict orders to not reveal their skills unless death was imminent, one Queen masquerading as a handmaiden, one handmaiden masquerading as a Queen, one Captain of the Guard, the well renown pacifist Governor of Theed, and one funny looking creature that might or might not have been a Gungan. I had no idea where we picked that one up from. 

Nonetheless, we probably couldn't have taken out twenty droids, much less two hundred, no matter what the Master Jedi thought.

"Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us," the tall Jedi said, sounding more like he was ordering me than suggesting it.

Everyone looked at me.

That meant, unfortunately, I would be required to speak again. Luckily, my answer could be taken almost directly out of my orders, ensuring that it was up to Queen Amidala's standards.

"Thank you Ambassador, but my place is with my people," I replied, meeting his eyes levelly.

"They will kill you if you stay," the Jedi responded.

Which put me in direct conflict with my very last order: to stay alive.

"They wouldn't dare," Bibble disagreed, somehow sounding dignified, but also like he'd willingly take on the entire Trade Federation for me. I immediately took back all the insulting things I'd ever thought about him and mentally apologized for the times I had mockingly imitated him for the other handmaidens.

Ever practical, Panaka expanded, "They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal. They can't afford to kill her." He sounded stressed and frustrated.

I was never so grateful for the fact that the people of Naboo tended to talk about the Queen as though she wasn't there. I didn't want to have this debate. I didn't have any clue what I was supposed to do.

"The situation here is not what it seems." The Jedi turned, speaking directly to me. This, I knew, would instantly win him Padmé's regard. As useful as I was finding everyone talking about me as though I wasn't there, she absolutely despised it, thinking (rightly so) that it was demeaning and insulting. The Jedi continued, still speaking to me and not the Governor or Captain. "There is something else behind all this, your highness. There is no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you," he firmly told me.

I agreed with him.

Padmé had talked just a week ago about how we had no worry of invasion because it was not something that would help the Federation, nor was it something that would follow their usual pattern. Then they invaded. They had to have ulterior motives. It was the only thing that made any sort of sense. In fact, the only part of the Jedi's speech that didn't impress me was the 'feelings' bit. As useful as intuition and instinct could be sometimes, they had no place in such important situations as ours.

"Please, your highness, reconsider. Our only hope is for the Senate to side with us. Senator Palpatine will need your help," Bibble finally spoke to me, furthering the Jedi's case.

I quite firmly believed that Bibble and the Jedi had the right of it. However, Padmé hadn't revoked her orders. I was not to leave Naboo, even though I thought staying was almost criminally stupid.

I took a deep breath to say that I would be staying here, with my people, who needed me more. Just then, I felt a small, subtle tug on the bottom of my dress as though someone had stepped on it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Padmé subtly remove her foot from where she'd treaded on my hem.

My orders had been revoked. But I still had no new ones. I slowly breathed out, trying to make it look as though I was still considering everything.

"If you are to leave, your highness, it must be now," the Jedi gently prodded me.

Thanks for the update Captain Obvious, I thought derisively, just let me wait for my orders, will you? Just as I thought that, I silently prayed that the confusion charms Padmé, Rabé, Saché, Eirtaé, Yané and I were wearing as anklets to prevent force users from telling us apart also shaded our thoughts and feelings. I thought they might.

Padmé coughed quietly from behind my left shoulder.

"Do you want a cough drop?" Yané, who sounded as though she were to my left, asked quietly.

"No, that's okay," Padmé whispered back.

"Are you sure?" Eirtaé, who sounded as though she were to my right, asked again.

"Well, alright, I'll take one," Padmé reluctantly agreed.

Yes! I thought, feeling like pumping my fist in the air. However, I kept my face perfectly neutral.

I had my orders. I turned away from the left, where Panaka and Naboo were firmly represented by the bodyguards, to my right, where the Jedi were waiting for my answer.

"I will plead our case to the Senate," I announced, hopefully sounding appropriately grave and regal.

The tall ediJedi didn't waste any time, immediately turning around and heading into the hanger, followed directly by the other Jedi.

I gave Governor Bibble one more glance and immediately felt a rush of affection for the man who had looked after me while we were captured, gave his honest advice and who would, I knew, bravely remain behind to help protect our people.

"Be careful, Governor," I told the man, wishing him all the best, as I followed the Jedi into the droid filled hanger, praying it wouldn't be the last thing I'd ever do.


	12. Fly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to post Sunday, so it's coming up Friday instead :)

We walked straight into the hanger as if it were just a normal, everyday thing, Captain Panaka next to me and the Jedi leading us. I kept my eyes firmly on the ground, silently praying, No one notice us, no one notice us, please, please, please no one notice us… because nothing good would happen when the droids noticed us.

"We need to free those pilots," Panaka announced, too loudly in my opinion, pointing at the poor Naboo captives who were sitting on the floor, weaponless, while droids surrounded them.

My eyes darted back to the floor as part of my dress got tangled up and I had to discreetly untangle it while still walking.

"I'll deal with that," I vaguely heard a cultured voice calmly announce as I continued to try and untangle my petticoats before anyone could notice while still walking. It was probably one of the most difficult things I'd ever had to do.

Then, we stopped abruptly. With one more small backward kick, my petticoats returned to normal.

"Halt," a robotic voice ordered.

I glanced up. The Jedi had led us right up to a small division of droids. I really hoped we were going to find out the Jedi's brilliant plan soon, before more of the patrolling droids showed up; otherwise we were as good as dead.

"I'm an ambassador to the Supreme Chancellor and I'm taking these people to Coruscant," the Jedi announced calmly.

I felt my heart sink. He was telling the truth and expecting it be enough. That was the worse plan I'd ever heard. We were dead. My only comfort was the fact that the long-haired Jedi was in front of me, meaning he'd probably be able to hold them off for a little while and Captain Panaka was beside me, who'd probably be able to cover for the handmaidens, the Queen and I while we turned tail and ran. Hopefully, I thought, we'd be able to get out of here mostly alive—as long as I could run fast enough in this dress, which, honestly, was a little questionable.

"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked while his underlings glanced at each other and fidgeted.

I wondered when they'd start shooting at us.

"To Coruscant," the Jedi calmly repeated, looking like he hadn't a clue that we were all about to die very quick deaths.

"Corucsant, uh, that doesn't compute. Uh, wait, uh, you're under arrest!" The idiotic droid finally decided, pointing at the Jedi menacingly.

And then both Jedi attacked. I stood watching in amazement for one short second while both of them once again moved fluidly, taking out more droids than I'd thought our entire party would be able to all without getting hit by the flying blaster bolts.

Then, realizing that there were blaster bolts flying around, I started hightailing it onto the cruiser, picking up the front of my dress to help me run faster.

"Come on, move!" Panaka yelled, a bit late on the pickup, as I was already running up the ramp, with the Gungan right behind me.

I practically flew onto the ship, only briefly pausing before running off to the right where I vaguely remembered this ship's throne room being from the brief tour of the entire Starfleet we had went on a month or so ago.

Footsteps pounded behind me, while blasters still sounded from hanger. I reached the throne room and practically threw myself into the throne, feeling around desperately for the safety harness.

Just then, Eirtaé, Rabé and Padmé flew in behind me.

"It's down and to your left!" Padmé panted as she flung herself down onto one of the benches and began fastening herself in.

I felt a rush of panic as I realized that there were only the three of them.

"Where are Yané and Saché?" I demanded, my voice accidentally slipping back to normal as I found the harness and quickly got myself in. If anything had happened to them… I thought fearfully.

"You ordered them to stay behind and help Governor Bibble," Eirtaé told me tightly as she, too, fastened herself in.

"Oh, of course," I replied sarcastically, "How could I have forgotten?"

Rabé and Padmé gave me tense smiles.

"New orders?" I asked lowly, as the ship suddenly lurched forward and we took off.

Padmé gave me a sharp look, before quietly saying, "Follow the Jedi's lead, don't harm Naboo and don't die."

I gave her a sharp nod as we all fell into tense silence.

Moments later, the ship began to tremble and rock as we were shot at.

"The blockade," Rabé said tightly. "I don't know if we'll be able to…"

Just then, something huge must have hit the ship as we were roughly jolted to the side.

The alarms started to go off and Eirtaé went white.

"That's the alarm for the shield generator," she murmured as the turbulence suddenly got much, much worse, with more and more jolts. "If we don't get that fixed, we're done for."

"Oh no," Rabé moaned, clutching onto the bottom of her seat with white-knuckled hands.

We waited in tense silent. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I had to work hard to keep my breathing slow. I kept picturing the ship going up in a massive fire ball. I kept picturing dead bodies, and the Governor receiving word of our deaths.

And then, suddenly, everything was calm again, like we were just on any other flight.

"We did it," Padmé breathed, letting out a short, breathless laugh as color flooded back into her face. "We did it!"

Eirtaé slumped into her seat, her eyes closing as she let out a long whoosh of air.

Rabé was still white. "Your highness, let's never, ever do that again," she said, her voice trembling.

I felt as though a massive weight was lifted off my chest.

"We're alive," I announced faintly.

"And we're free," Padmé suddenly grinned.

"I'm going to be sick," Rabé moaned.

"Not yet, you're not," said Eirtaé grimly, unhooking herself and standing up. "We have to be in position. Panaka will probably be here to give us a status update. We have to be ready, calm and composed by then."

"Ohhh!" Rabé looked like she wanted to cry, but she took a deep, calming breath as Padmé and Eirtaé both stood up.

I released the safety harness and stood up as well, carefully smoothing out my dress and shaking out the many petticoats. I sat back down, spreading out the skirts so it sat around me elegantly. After I sat, I straightened out the thrice cursed, far too heavy headdress.

"This is going to look so silly with only the three of us," Eirtaé muttered as she helped Rabé stand up. "No symmetry at all."

"The horror," I remarked dryly, giving her a small smile so that she'd see I meant no harm.

Eirtaé gave me a tired smile back. "Mark my words. We'll look ridiculously uneven."

"We still have to get in order," Rabé, looking a little steadier, pointed out. "They'll be here any moment now."

"Right," Eirtaé said briskly. "Rabé, you stand there," she pointed behind my left shoulder, "I'll stand here," Eirtaé moved to stand behind my right shoulder. "And Padmé, you stand next to me."

I heard the rustling of skirts as they got into position. Then, it was quiet. I took several deep breaths, pictured sitting on the railing and then schooled my face back into dignified indifference.

Footsteps sounded down the hall. I sat up perfectly straight.

Captain Panaka entered, followed by a beat up blue R2 unit and the two Jedi.

"Your highness," Captain Panaka bowed, the two Jedi following suit.

I nodded my head regally at them. "Captain Panaka, Ambassadors." I paused, hoping the Jedi might get the hint that we still hadn't been formally introduced and that some names would be greatly appreciated. They didn't, so I continued, "What has happened?"

"We have escaped the Trade Federation, your highness," Captain Panaka said, sounding very satisfied. He then went on to explain how, thanks to the gifted piloting of Ric Olie, we had escaped the blockade but we had still sustained some damages. As Eirtaé had said, our shield generator had been hit and our R2 units had been sent out.

The beat up little blue thing was the only one that survived.

Finally, Captain Panaka wrapped up his update by saying, "An extremely well put together little droid. Without a doubt, it saved the ship, as well as our lives."

I felt like grinning at the little unit, who was looking around the throne room with interest.

Instead, I settled for a small smile. "It is to be commended." Which it definitely was; anything that saved our lives was nothing but wonderful in my book. "What is its number?"

Captain Panaka moved forward while the little droid let out a series of chirps and whistles, "R2-D2, your highness," Captain Panaka replied.

I smiled at the droid. "Thank you, Artoo Detoo."

The droid beeped and hummed at me, moving back and forth a little and looking proud.

I immediately decided he deserved more. I really liked this little droid. Then, an evil thought hit me. An amusing way to get revenge for a million and one fittings and to stop Rabé, Eirtaé, Padmé and myself from looking silly and uneven.

Stifling an evil grin, I called, "Padmé."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Padmé give me a startled look before walking over toward Panaka and Artoo Detoo, giving me a confused stare.

I felt like jumping up and down and clapping, but instead continued with my thought, "Clean this droid up as best you can. It deserves our gratitude."

I saw a brief flash of disbelief in her eyes, before being replaced with amusement. She understood, I knew, that this was the promised revenge for her refusing to have any more fittings with Wicaté and forcing me to have them for her.

The droid made happy noises and I smiled at it. Then, forcing myself back to the situation at hand, I looked at Panaka.

"Continue, Captain," I ordered calmly as Padmé stood with the droid.

He glanced at me than turned to the two Jedi.

The tall, talkative one came forward, while the shorter, quieter one watched.

"Your highness," He began, "We are heading for a remote planet called Tatooine. It is in a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation."

"I do not agree with the Jedi on this," Panaka said tightly.

"You must trust my judgment, your highness," the tall man told me.

And, according to Padmé, I did. However, be that as it may, I thought it was entirely inappropriate to put my life and the Queen's life in the hands of two people whose names I didn't even know.

"Ambassadors, I am most grateful for your help," I began solemnly, and Panaka, thinking that I agreed with him, shot them a triumphant look, but I continued, "And I trust your judgment. We will go to Tatooine," Panaka looked frustrated as I kept going, "But I would like to learn of the situation which caused the negotiations with the Trade Federation to fail and how you came to be in Theed at such a fortunate time."

I looked at them solemnly, with my very best Queen face on.

They exchanged startled looks before both bowing at me. A small smile flitted across Padmé's face as she bowed and, with the R2 unit, left the throne room. Behind me, I heard the small huff of air that meant that Eirtaé was simultaneously appalled and amused by my actions.

"Of course, your highness," the talkative Jedi bowed. "I am Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The short Jedi bowed and I vaguely noted that he was actually extremely good looking before turning back to Knight Jinn.

"The Chancellor sent us to negotiate a settlement with the Trade Federation." He continued to weave a compelling tale of being ignored, attacked and eventually sneaking onto droid ships to arrive on planet. He told of running into the Gungan who accompanied us whose name, I discovered, was Jar-Jar Binks. Then, he glossed over several details and vaguely alluded to getting a transport before arriving in Theed. After his story (in which I suspected he skipped over the most interesting parts, such as where they got the transport), I nodded at him regally.

"Thank you for all you have already done on the part of the Naboo, Ambassador Jinn, Ambassador Kenobi. Your help is much appreciated," I formally thanked them.

Then they left with Captain Panaka, leaving me with Eirtaé and Rabé while we waited to arrive on Tatooine.


	13. Plan

"I still can't believe you did that!" Padmé laughed, shaking her head. "I can't believe you made me spend two hours cleaning off a droid!"

I laughed too. "Hey, I told you I'd get back at you for all those fittings you forced me to! And trust me," I grinned. "You got off easy."

"I just can't believe you had the nerve to say that to the Jedi." Eirtaé shook her head, looking half disapproving, half amused. "They rescue us from the Federation's grasp, save our lives and then get us onto a ship so we could make it to Coruscant to plead with the Senate, and then you look down your nose at them and order them to tell you how they got there!"

"I thanked them first!" I protested. "Besides, how else was I going to find out their names? In case you forgot, they weren't exactly just telling us!"

"I'm glad you asked," Rabé smiled. "It was a fascinating story."

"Even though there were more holes in it than in a fishing net," Padmé grumbled. "You should have demanded to know more. I learned practically nothing from the Gungan they brought along, and, from the sounds of it, Jinn skipped over the important parts."

"Sorry, Padmé," I said, not feeling the slightest bit apologetic, "but I wasn't really sure how to go about questioning the Jedi who saved our lives multiple times to fill in the parts of their story that they deliberately left out. Besides, I don't know if you've noticed, but you're about to become a lot quieter, your highness. My basic strategy is going to be 'avoid talking at all possible costs'. Because the less I talk, the fewer chances people will have to realize that something's off."

"Smart," Eirtaé murmured. "Especially because no one considers you very talkative, milady," she turned to Padmé. "They'll only see the Queen as being so worried by the invasion that she's more easily lost in thought than usual."

I shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable with the unexpected praised. "I hope."

We were silent for a moment.

"I wonder what Yané and Saché are doing," Rabé quietly said. "I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they are," I quickly tried to reassure her. "They're both extremely capable."

"Maybe," Eirtaé slowly responded. "But Saché panics, sometimes, and Yané… she's so young. She's only eleven," Eirtaé whispered, looking worried.

"I told them to find the other handmaidens," Padmé said, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them. "I told them to protect Governor Bibble and try to help him in any way they could. He'll look out for them, I think." Padmé bit her lip.

"I'm sure he will," I agreed softly, trying not to think about it too hard. "Padmé," I changed the subject, "What are we going to do when we land on Tatooine? Send some pilots out for parts?"

Padmé shook her head, "No. I think… I think the tall Jedi—Qui-Gon Jinn, right?—is going to go and look for parts. Most of the pilots have never actually been off of Naboo while the Jedi have been to all sorts of planets and know a little bit about everything. I think they'll have more luck fitting in and finding the parts. Panaka said that the Gungan, Jar-Jar, will be going with to make him seem more innocent and the R2 unit is going so it can store the names and descriptions of the parts we'll need. But I—" Padmé frowned, "I don't know. What Panaka said about Tatooine worries me. I don't like the fact that he doesn't want us there."

Eirtaé sighed loudly. "I wish we knew more!" she exclaimed. "It's so irritating having to depend on everyone else for information all the time. How are we supposed to know who's right?"

Padmé's eyes lit up. "That's it! Of course," she breathed, looking excited.  
"What?" I asked warily.

"Padmé," Rabé began carefully, "You've got that look in your eye. The same one Sabé gets before she does something stupid. What are you planning?"

"I'm going to go with. I'm going to go with Qui-Gon Jinn and Jar-Jar to Tatooine, where I can make my own conclusions about things," Padmé explained, her eyes alight.

Shock reigned for one silent moment. Then, the room exploded.

"What?"

"You can't do that!"

"Think of the risk!"

"That's completely inappropriate!"

"You could get killed!"

"Panaka will never agree to it!"

"Stars! We don't agree to it!"

"That's so reckless!"

"How am I supposed to know what to do if you're gone?"

"The Jedi won't let you either!"

"That's not what I meant, Padmé!"

"No, milady! Just no!"

But Padmé's eyes were hard and her jaw set. And once Padmé had decided something, she wouldn't be moved by anything. Still, we kept trying. For hours.

Finally, Padmé snapped, "Look, I'm going to do this no matter what you say! And, since I'm Queen, what I say goes. I'll tell Panaka about it when we get closer to landing. He can't argue. I'm above him. He has to listen. And so do you." She glared at all of us. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep. It's been a long day." And then she grabbed her nightgown, and stormed into the refresher.

"She's right," Eirtaé cursed, looking furious. "The stubborn idiot is right! There's absolutely nothing we can do to stop her."

"What will we do if she gets hurt though? Or if the Jedi finds out?" Rabé asked, looking fearful, "I mean, the anklets fooled Vetran, but he wasn't trained at all."

Eirtaé and I exchanged worried looks. Rabé had a point.

After my nightmare about fooling force sensitives, Yané had gone on a mad quest, where she frantically combed, and searched and hunted for books about hiding force signatures in every library in Theed. After about a hundred dead ends and debunked theories, Yané had finally come across some old charms in an ancient book, with pages made of some strange thing called paper at the University library. These charms, the book had said, could help obscure and confuse force signatures when used by multiple people.

So, feeling doubtful, we had followed the instructions in the book and made five charms each and then attached them to an anklet. We wore the ones we had made constantly for three weeks ("To soak up your force signature," Yané had explained) before switching and wearing everyone else's for one week ("To cover your signature up with everyone else's," Yané had added) before throwing them all in a pot with some gross, goopy mixture inside while we stood around it holding hands and chanting things ("The chant is probably more symbolic than anything else, but there might be something important about standing around it while talking." Yané had shrugged. "I'm not sure, but we better do it anyway. This is to make sure the anklets continue to work by sealing in our different and confused force signatures, so we want to make sure this part goes perfectly.").

Then, we had worn them when Ekie Vetran, a notable Naboo force user who was infamous for being blunt, came to talk with the Queen. After a few moments of idle chit-chat, Vetran had asked, bewildered, if everyone was feeling okay, because, for some reason, our force signatures kept swirling and changing and flitting between the five of us. In fact, he'd said, he wasn't even sure how many of us there were. He didn't say one word though, questioning why the Queen was acting as a handmaiden while a handmaiden was pretending to be Queen. We figured that meant the charms worked and had worn them ever since.

"Well," I finally said, "There's not really much we can do about that, is there? Since Queen Amidala has made it clear that she's going to Tatooine, no matter what common sense says, we'll just have to keep wearing the anklets and hoping for the best."

Just then, Padmé stalked out of the refresher and flung herself onto her bed, still looking furious.

Rabé, Eirtaé and I exchanged glances. Then I sighed. As her handmaidens, it was our duty to support her no matter what, even when what she was doing was criminally stupid. The three of us walked over to her bed and cautiously sat down. She glared up at us balefully.

"We're sorry, milady," Rabé sighed. "We didn't mean to be disrespectful, we're just worried about you."

"And you can't say we don't have a reason to be," Eirtaé pointed out, before sighing and continuing, "Still, we're your handmaidens and you know we'll support you, your highness, no matter what."

"Just be careful, won't you?" I pleaded. "I don't want to have to explain to the Naboo, Governor Bibble, and the Jedi that I was just pretending to be you while you went and got yourself killed."

Padmé stared at us stonily for several minutes before sighing and sitting up.

"I wasn't planning on getting killed or doing anything stupid, Sabé," she said, sounding tired. "I just want to see the planet for myself, get an idea of what is we're dealing with."

"We know, milady. And it—it is a good idea," Eirtaé admitted reluctantly. "I just wish you'd let one of us do it for you."

"Well, I won't," Padmé said with a hint of a scowl.

"We know," smiled Rabé. "And at least you'll be with a Jedi, so I think you'll be okay."

"I'll be fine," Padmé said, rolling her eyes at us. "You three are such worrywarts."

"What can we say, your highness?" I shrugged. "It's part of the job description."

"It's annoying," retorted Padmé. "Understandable," she reluctantly added, "But annoying."

"So," Eirtaé shifted a bit on the bed, "Who's the lucky one who gets to break the news to Panaka?"

And with that, we were on solid, comfortable ground again, planning and preparing and not getting any sleep.

Finally, through the use of many diagrams, charts and scribbled notes, we came up with a workable plan that all of us could agree on and we had even found, buried at the very back of the Wardrobe that Wicaté had insisted be put in all of the starships the Queen might ever go on, a simple outfit with a blue shirt, over tunic, pants and sturdy boots. It would be perfect for Padmé's undercover mission.

"Okay," Eirtaé said, surveying the outfit with approval, "I felt us enter the atmosphere just a little bit ago, so we're probably going to be landing soon. I'll go talk to Panaka," Here she grimaced but, since she wasn't pretending to be the Queen like I was or responsible for doing Padmé's hair in a traditional peasant style like Rabé, she was the only choice, "While you get Padmé ready for the trip. I'll also make sure Artoo Detoo is okay with going—Are you sure I actually have to ask him, Sabé?—and pass the word onto Ambassador Jinn about what the plan is." Eirtaé turned to leave but then paused. "Are you positive you can get the dress on by yourself, Sabé? I can stay and—"

I grinned at her, "Oh, stop your stalling. Captain Panaka isn't going to kill you, I promise. Besides, think of what Saché will say when she finds out that you ordered Panaka around!"

Eirtaé rolled her eyes and left.


End file.
